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30/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 30 out of 100. Drug development

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

We don’t understand Alzheimer, its origin and disease mechanisms. The absence of disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer today is due to the amyloid hypothesis, a misguided hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease etiology, which has dominated Alzheimer research, drug development, and clinical trials for 30 years. However, the hypothesis is not dead yet, as exemplified by the recent resurrection of clinical trials with aducanumab.

Key findings

The absence of disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer today is due to the amyloid hypothesis, a misguided hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease etiology, which has dominated Alzheimer research, drug development, and clinical trials for 30 years.
However, the hypothesis is not dead yet, as exemplified by the recent resurrection of clinical trials with aducanumab.
Recent advances in Alzheimer research include astrocytes, synaptic function and glutamate signaling.
Many studies indicate EAAT2 as a promising target in drug discovery and clinical development for novel therapies in Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

Why it matters

This paper argues that the lack of disease-modifying Alzheimer's treatments today is due to the amyloid hypothesis, which has dominated research, drug development and trials for 30 years. It notes the hypothesis is not dead yet, as shown by the recent resurrection of clinical trials with aducanumab.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Treatments →

Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 30/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record and institution's track record, so those were left out: it earned 28 of the 93 points we could judge it on, which is 30 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Advances in clinical and experimental medicine : official organ Wroclaw Medical University)
Journal's citation record	0 / 4	Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine: journal h-index 61 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	3 / 5	2021 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	2 / 7	Cited 10 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	1 / 5	1.4 citations a year over 7 year(s) since 2021
Impact for its field and year	2 / 6	Cited 1.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	0 / 4	Cited 2 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multi-centre collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 0 institution(s) in 0 countries — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 34313409)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	28 / 93	Scored on 18 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 28 of the 93 points we could judge it on is 30 out of 100.
Total	30 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Kurkinen, M. (2021). Alzheimer's trials: A cul-de-sac with no end in sight. Advances in clinical and experimental medicine : official organ Wroclaw Medical University. https://doi.org/10.17219/acem/139501

Vancouver

Kurkinen M. Alzheimer's trials: A cul-de-sac with no end in sight. Advances in clinical and experimental medicine : official organ Wroclaw Medical University. 2021. doi:10.17219/acem/139501. PMID: 34313409.

BibTeX

@article{kurkinen2021-34313409,
  author  = {Kurkinen, M.},
  title   = {{Alzheimer's trials: A cul-de-sac with no end in sight}},
  journal = {Advances in clinical and experimental medicine : official organ Wroclaw Medical University},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.17219/acem/139501},
  pmid    = {34313409},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.17219/acem/139501}
}

Studies this one cites

Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.

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