The Current Advance of Clinical Drug for Treatment Alzheimer’s Disease and the Research of New Drug

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a typical degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Along with the continuous deepening of the aging of the population, the prevalence rate of AD is also increasing year by year. According to the national epidemiological survey of mental illness, the prevalence rate of Alzheimer’s disease among people aged 65 and over in China is 5.56%. It is estimated that the number of AD patients worldwide will increase to 152 million by 2050. So far, only 5 kinds of drugs (cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA receptor antagonists) have been clinically approved by the FDA for the treatment of AD, which can only delay symptoms and cannot change the progression of the disease. At present, the pathogenesis of AD has not been clearly clarified. In view of this situation, governments and R & D institutions of pharmaceutical enterprises attach great importance to the development of AD drugs. Data show that between 1998 and 2017, 146 clinical research and development centers for Alzheimer’s disease around the world failed. This article reviews the daily use of AD drugs and the progress of drug research and development, hoping to provide some ideas for medical workers who understand AD drugs and researchers who develop new drugs.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Clinical drugs; New drug research and development