Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jun;26(6):735-739.
doi: 10.1080/13543784.2017.1323868.

Why do trials for Alzheimer's disease drugs keep failing? A discontinued drug perspective for 2010-2015

Dev Mehta  1 , Robert Jackson  1 , Gaurav Paul  1 , Jiong Shi  1 , Marwan Sabbagh  1
Affiliations

Why do trials for Alzheimer's disease drugs keep failing? A discontinued drug perspective for 2010-2015

Dev Mehta et al. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

There are dozens of drugs in development for AD with billions of dollars invested. Despite the massive investment in AD drugs and a burgeoning pipeline, there have been more setbacks and failures than treatment successes. Areas covered: The classes of drugs that have failed to date include the monoclonal antibodies, the gamma secretase inhibitors, dimebon, neurochemical enhancers, and one tau drug. Data for these compounds were sought through a PubMed search and a clinicaltrials.gov search. Expert opinion: The obvious question to be posed is: Why are they failing? Is the treatment of symptomatic dementia too late? Are the therapeutic targets incorrect? Are the clinical methodologies imprecise, misleading, or inaccurate? This review summarizes the drugs that have failed during 2010-2015 and offers possible theories as to why they have failed.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s; Amyloid; clinical trials; dimebon; monoclonal antibodies; secretase inhibitors.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Becker RE, Greig NH, Giacobini E. Why do so many drugs for Alzheimer’s disease fail in development? Time for new methods and new practices? J Alzheimer’s Dis. 2008;15:303–25. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becker R, Greig NH. Alzheimer’s disease drug development in 2008 and beyond: problems and opportunities. Curr Alzheimer Res. 5(2008):346–357. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Giacobini E, Becker RE. One hundred years after the discovery of Alzheimer’s disease. A turning point for thera- py? J Alzheimers Dis. 12(2007):37–52. - PubMed
    1. Becker RE. Lessons from Darwin: 21st Century designs for clinical trials. Curr Alzheimer Res. 4(2007):458–467. - PubMed
    1. Vandenberghe R, Rinne J, Boada M. Bapineuzamab for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease in two global, randomized, phase 3 trials. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. 2016 May 12; Analysis of why bapi failed. - PMC - PubMed

Substances