Pharmacotherapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder which is characterized by an increasing impairment in normal memory and cognitive processes that significantly diminishes a person's daily functioning. Despite decades of research and advances in our understanding of disease aetiology and pathogenesis, there are still no effective disease-modifying drugs available for the treatment of AD. However, numerous compounds are currently undergoing pre-clinical and clinical evaluations. These candidate pharmacotherapeutics are aimed at various aspects of the disease, such as the microtubule-associated tau-protein, the amyloid-beta (A beta) peptide and metal ion dyshomeostasis - all of which are involved in the development and progression of AD. We will review the way these pharmacological strategies target the biochemical and clinical features of the disease and the investigational drugs for each category.