Alzheimer's drug-development pipeline: 2016

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) is growing in frequency and new therapies are urgently needed.MethodsWe assessed clinicaltrials.gov (accessed 1-4-2016) to determine the number and characteristics of trials in phase I, phase II, and phase III for treatment of AD.ResultsThere are currently 24 agents in 36 trials in phase III of AD drug development. Seven of these 24 agents are symptomatic cognitive-enhancing compounds, and 17 are disease-modifying treatments (DMTs). Most DMTs address amyloid-related targets (76%). There are 45 agents in phase II being assessed in 52 clinical trials. Phase II trials include 30 DMTs, with 26 small molecules and 4 immunotherapies. There are 24 agents in the first phase of AD drug development.DiscussionAmyloid is the principal target of late-stage development programs. There are relatively few agents in clinical trials for AD suggesting a need to amplify the drug discovery ecosystem