Early investigational drugs targeting tau protein for the treatment of Alzheimers disease

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Introduction: Alzheimers disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is a significant burden to society. With continual expansion of our understanding of the disease, novel therapies are emerging as potential therapeutics to either halt or reverse progression of the disease.Areas covered: This paper aims to provide an overview of current drug therapies aimed at targeting the tau protein. With this protein known to be a noted pathologic finding of the disease, trials of therapeutics aimed at this protein have been under investigation. This article is based on data obtained from PubMed searches, TauRx, ALZFORUM, and Clinicaltrials.gov with search terms including: anti-tau, tau therapeutic agents in AD, Phase 0, I, II, III trials in AD, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines.Expert opinion: Broad-based treatments that target tau, including microtubule stabilization and tau aggregation inhibitors, appear to be of greatest promise. Immunotherapy appears to be relatively safe and efficacious but narrow whereas protein kinase inhibition has not demonstrated clinical benefit to date.

Publication Date

10-3-2015

Publication Title

Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs

ISSN

13543784

E-ISSN

17447658

Volume

24

Issue

10

First Page

1355

Last Page

1360

PubMed ID

26289787

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1517/13543784.2015.1075002

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