Cited by 576Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchCholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Drug treatments in Alzheimer’s disease

Open access
Briggs, Robert, Kennelly, Sean P, O’Neill, Desmond·2016·Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Despite the significant public health issue that it poses, only five medical treatments have been approved for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and these act to control symptoms rather than alter the course of the disease. Studies of potential disease-modifying therapy have generally been undertaken in patients with clinically detectable disease, yet evidence suggests that the pathological changes associated with AD begin several years before this. It is possible that pharmacological therapy may be beneficial in this pre-clinical stage before the neurodegenerative process is established. Techniques providing earlier diagnosis, such as cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and amyloid positron emission tomography neuroimaging, are key to testing this theory in clinical trials. Recent results from trials of agents such as aducanumab are encouraging but must also be interpreted with caution. Such medicines could potentially delay the onset of dementia and would therefore markedly reduce its prevalence. However, we currently remain a good distance away from clinically available disease-modifying therapy.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.7861/clinmedicine.16-3-247

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75 of 75 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease offer limited symptom relief, especially in early to moderate stages, but do not halt disease progression or address underlying neurodegeneration.

    “Current treatments for AD, including cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, offer limited symptom relief, especially in the early to moderate stages, but do not halt disease progression or address the underlying neurodegeneration.”

    From Cholinesterase Inhibitors from Plants and Their Potential in Alzheimer’s Treatment: Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as [10]

    The section headed “Neither memantine nor donepezil are beneficial in MCI” says current medications have relatively small average effects and do not alter the underlying neurodegenerative process. The stage qualifier is not fully supported: the Memantine section reports modest benefits in moderate to severe AD, with little evidence for use in milder AD. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Four drugs (donepezil, memantine, galantamine, rivastigmine) are approved on the market and belong to two families: anticholinesterase inhibitors and anti-glutaminergics.

    “Four drugs (donepezil, memantine, galantamine, rivastigmine) are approved on the market and belong to two families: anticholinesterase inhibitors and anti-glutaminergics.”

    From Alzheimer's Disease: Treatment Strategies and Their Limitations. (2022) · cites this paper as [155]

    The paper’s Cholinesterase inhibitors and Memantine sections identify the four named drugs and place them in the two relevant drug classes. However, the introductory Drug treatments in Alzheimer’s disease section says five medical treatments, not four, had been approved for AD. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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1 of the 76 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Mosconi L , Berti V , Glodzik L et al . Pre-clinical detection of Alzheimer's disease using FDG-PET, with or without amyloid imaging . J Alzheimers Dis 2010 ; 20 : 843 -54 .
  2. Croisile B , Auriacombe S , Etcharry-Bouyx F , Vercelletto M . National Institute on Aging (US), Alzheimer Association. [The new 2011 recommendations of the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer's disease: Preclinal stages, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia] . Rev Neurol (Paris) 2012 ; 168 : 471 -82 .

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Authors
Briggs, R., Kennelly, S. P., & O’Neill, D.
Affiliations
Tallaght University Hospital (IE)
Venue
Clinical Medicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-06
Volume
16
Issue
3
Pages
247-253
ISSN
1470-2118 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2415242066
Cited by
571
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 37 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 97 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 106 · 2021: 95 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
FWCI
9.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Clinical Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
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, pharmacotherapy, disease-modifying therapy, symptomatic treatment, preclinical Alzheimer's disease, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, amyloid PET, aducanumab, early diagnosis, dementia prevention
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Amyloid, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Humans, Neuroprotective Agents

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