Cited by 557Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchCholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2020

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Cummings, Jeffrey, Lee, Garam, Ritter, Aaron, Sabbagh, Marwan, Zhong, Kate·2020·Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a growing public health concern affecting millions of patients worldwide and costing billions of dollars annually. We review the pipeline of drugs and biologics in clinical trials for the treatment of AD. We use the Common Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Research Ontology (CADRO) to classify treatment targets and mechanisms of action. We review our annual pipeline reports for the past 5 years to provide longitudinal insight into clinical trials and drug development for AD. METHODS: We reviewed ClinicalTrials.gov as of February 27, 2020, and identified all trials of pharmacologic agents currently being developed for treatment of AD as represented on this widely used U.S. Food and Drug Administration registry. RESULTS: There are 121 agents in clinical trials for the treatment of AD. Twenty-nine agents are in 36 Phase 3 trials, 65 agents are in 73 Phase 2 trials, and 27 agents are in 27 Phase 1 trials. Twelve agents in trials target cognitive enhancement and 12 are intended to treat neuropsychiatric and behavioral symptoms. There are 97 agents in disease modification trials. Compared to the 2019 pipeline, there is an increase in the number of disease-modifying agents targeting pathways other than amyloid or tau. DISCUSSION: The 2020 pipeline has innovations in clinical trials and treatment targets that provide hope for greater success in AD drug development programs. Review of clinical trials over the past 5 years show that there is progressive emphasis on non-amyloid targets, including candidate treatments for inflammation, synapse and neuronal protection, vascular factors, neurogenesis, and epigenetic interventions. There has been a marked growth in repurposed agents in the pipeline.

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  • High failure rate and limited drug development reflect biological disconnect and restricted translatability between mouse models and human pathology.

    “The high failure rate of agents in clinical trials and relatively limited drug development for AD reflect the biological disconnect and thus restricted translatability between mouse models and human pathology.”

    From Microglia and monocytes in inflammatory CNS disease: integrating phenotype and function (2022) · cites this paper as [68]

    The Discussion (page not provided) reports relatively few AD drugs in development and a high risk of failure. It attributes the development disparity to poorly defined target biology, limited biomarkers, longer trials, and greater expense; it does not attribute trial failures or limited development to a biological disconnect between mouse models and human pathology. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Limited availability of human biomarkers, longer trial durations, and high trial costs exacerbate the disconnect.

    “This is further exacerbated by the limited availability of human biomarkers, longer trial durations and prohibitively high trial costs [68, 86, 102]”
  • In 2020, there was ~40-fold and ~threefold decrease in number of drugs in development for AD compared to malignant neoplasms and diabetes.

    “In 2020, there was ~ 40-fold and ~ threefold decrease, respectively, in the number of drugs in development for AD, compared to those in development for malignant neoplasms and diabetes [68]”
  • Of these trials, 41% look into disease-modifying small molecule medications, 34% look into biological agents that change disease, and the remaining trials focus on treatments that improve cognitive function or address neuropsychiatric symptoms linked to AD.

    “Of these trials, 41% look into disease-modifying small molecule medications, 34% look into biological agents that change disease, and the remaining trials focus on treatments that improve cognitive function or address neuropsychiatric symptoms linked to ADs [68,70,71,182,183,184].”
  • The 2024 AD drug development pipeline includes 164 trials, of which 127 are exploring possible treatments or medicines.

    “The most recent list of studies was provided by the 2024 AD drug development pipeline, which includes 164 trials (of which 127 are exploring possible treatments or medicines).”

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [30]Cummings JL, Cohen S, van Dyck CH, et al. ABBY: a phase 2 randomized trial of crenezumab in mild to moderate Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2018; 90: e1889‐ e97. 29695589 PMC5962917
  2. [49]Matthews DC, Ritter A, Thomas RG, et al. The effects of rasagiline on glucose metabolism and cognition and their relationship to tau burden in a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled phase II clinical trial of participants with Alzheimer's dementia. Submitted, in review.

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Authors
Cummings, J., Lee, G., Ritter, A., Sabbagh, M., & Zhong, K.
Affiliations
  • Cleveland Clinic (US)
  • CNS Innovations Henderson Nevada USA
Corresponding author
Cummings, Jeffrey
Venue
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2020-01
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
e12050-e12050
ISSN
2352-8737 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3043145818
Cited by
557
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 56 · 2022: 160 · 2021: 186 · 2020: 32
FWCI
65.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM109025)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, drug development pipeline, clinical trials, disease-modifying therapy, amyloid, tau protein, cognitive enhancement, neuropsychiatric symptoms, repurposed drugs, inflammation, vascular factors, neurogenesis, epigenetic interventions, treatment goals

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