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Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease

There are more than 4.5 million Americans who currently suffer from the disorder known as AlzheimerÆs disease (On 2004, 37). The current generation of Alzheimer drugs were designed chiefly to treat symptoms of the disease but have little to no impact on slowing or stopping its progression. However, a new generation of drugs aimed at slowing and stopping the progression of the disease are in late phases of testing. The following drugs are in late phases of FDA testing to treat AlzheimerÆs disease and related disorders: acetyl-L-carnitine, beta-amyloid fibrillogenesis inhibitor (Alzhemed), cerebolysin, phenserine, xaliproden, aripiprazole (Abilify), celecoxib (Celebrex), dextromethorphan quinidine (Neurodex), donepezil (Aricept), memantine (Namenda), raloxifene (Evista), and risperidone (Risperdal), (Agents 2004). This analysis will review the results of research conducted on some of these promising new drugs, including whether or not they have been show effective to slow or prevent the progress of AlzheimerÆs disease.

In AlzheimerÆs disease, the formation of beta-amyloid is thought to be the substance that is responsible for building up and killing brain cells in people with the illness. Current generations of AlzheimerÆs drugs only treat symptoms but are ineffective in slowing the progression of the disease. Other hurdles in developing drugs to slow the progression of AlzheimerÆs disease is the difficulty in getting drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier (New Treatment 2004). A new generation of drugs holds promise for overcoming this challenge, as well as reducing beta-amyloid formation and thus slowing the progression of mild dementia to full-blown AlzheimerÆs disease.

One such drug that shows promise in late phases of testing is known as NC758 or ôAlzhemedö (New Treatment 2004, 5). In reporting preliminary results of drug trials, researchers believe the drug has the capability of ôinterfering with the abili...

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Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:20, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1710828.html