7.2.4 – Limitations of current Alzheimer’s disease treatment options

Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease are crucial in order to prevent further rapid neurodegeneration and to curb many negative psychological behaviours. However, they are limited in their scope as they can only treat the symptoms of the disease as they appear. Combination therapy in order to treat as many of the disease symptoms as possible is complicated to arrange to be robust enough for positive change to be seen while avoiding the effects of mixing medications. In addition, ensuring that the plethora of drugs are all being taken daily according to instructions places undue burden on caregivers. Many individuals only seek a diagnosis and subsequent treatment after amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles have had time to develop to the point where they exert notable irreversible effects on the patient. Because of this, it is vital that research shifts to a more preventative rather than symptomatic strategy. If bio-markers or proteins can be identified in order to diagnose Alzheimer’s early, treatments can be started before significant neurodegeneration has occurred and the health outcomes of patients can be vastly improved. In addition, this approach will allow for further research into drugs that function early on in the development of the disease and that offer neuroprotective effects rather than symptomatic treatments. Protecting the brain from advancing neurodegeneration can prevent many of the negative psychological symptoms of the disease from developing, also reducing the amount of different medications an individual may need in order to treat the full scope of their symptoms.