Development of drug for Alzheimer′s disease

Alzheime′s disease (AD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease，which is characterized by severe memory deficits and cognitive impairment. Current FDA-approved drugs for AD aim at the correction of neurotransmitter abnormalities. They produce limited symptomatic effects but do not slow disease progression. During recent years，with the further understanding of the mechanisms that initiate and perpetuate AD，great progress has been made in the development of therapeutic drugs to reverse the disease course and prevent its initiation. Particularly，drugs targeting amyloid β and tau protein as well as neuroprotective reagents have been widely studied. Several promising candidates are currently under investigation in clinical trials，shedding new light on a disease-modifying therapy of AD. In this paper，the current status of the drug development for AD is reviewed，and the above-mentioned drugs classified according to their therapeutic targets are discussed.