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38/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Drug development

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Introduction Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main cause of dementia and represents a huge burden for patients, carers, and healthcare systems. Extensive efforts for over 20 years have failed to find effective disease-modifying drugs. Although amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation in the brain predicts cognitive decline, effective reduction of plaque load by numerous drug candidates has not yielded significant clinical benefits. A similar pattern is now emerging for drugs which target hyperphosphorylated tau, and trials with anti-inflammatory drugs have been negative despite neuroinflammation appearing to have a crucial role in AD pathogenesis. Areas covered This article reviews key drugs that have been discontinued while in development for AD and delineates the future landscape for present and alternative approaches. Expert opinion Anti-Aβ drugs have failed to validate the Aβ cascade hypothesis of AD. Early findings suggest that the same is happening with therapeutics targeting tau and focussing future research solely on anti-tau drugs is inappropriate. Alternative targets should be pursued, including apolipoprotein E, immunomodulation, plasma exchange, protein autophagy and clearance, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal glucose metabolism, neurovascular unit support, epigenetic dysregulation, synaptic loss and dysfunction, microbiota dysbiosis, and combination therapies. Meanwhile, repurposing of drugs approved for other indications is justified where scientific rationale and robust preclinical evidence exist.

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

APA 7th

Imbimbo, B. P., Lozupone, M., Watling, M., & Panza, F. (2020). Discontinued disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease: status and future perspectives. Expert opinion on investigational drugs. https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2020.1795127

Vancouver

Imbimbo BP, Lozupone M, Watling M, Panza F. Discontinued disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease: status and future perspectives. Expert opinion on investigational drugs. 2020. doi:10.1080/13543784.2020.1795127. PMID: 32657175.

BibTeX

@article{imbimbo2020-32657175,
  author  = {Imbimbo, B. P. and Lozupone, M. and Watling, M. and Panza, F.},
  title   = {{Discontinued disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease: status and future perspectives}},
  journal = {Expert opinion on investigational drugs},
  year    = {2020},
  doi     = {10.1080/13543784.2020.1795127},
  pmid    = {32657175},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2020.1795127}
}

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How to read this study

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Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Although amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation in the brain predicts cognitive decline, effective reduction of plaque load by numerous drug candidates has not yielded significant clinical benefits.
Early findings suggest that the same is happening with therapeutics targeting tau and focussing future research solely on anti-tau drugs is inappropriate.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 38/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 22 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 38 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Expert opinion on investigational drugs)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
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	2 / 5	2020 — within 10 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)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
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
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32657175)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	22 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 22 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 38 out of 100.
Total	38 / 100	—

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