Why Do the Drug Trials for Alzheimer’s Keep Failing?

Written by Frederic Jouhet

Fact checked by The Brain Blog Team

There have been many drug trials and research efforts to find a treatment or cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet no genuinely effective pharmacological treatment has been discovered. So the question is, why do the drug trials for Alzheimer’s disease keep failing?  

In researching this topic, I discovered that this question is an ongoing inquiry for many scientists, gerontologists, and physicians. Why are hundreds of potential medical treatment options failing in research? Is the treatment happening too late in the disease progression? Are the medications targeting the wrong aspects of the disease? Or are clinical methodologies simply not hitting the mark?  

There are so many questions! And yet, there are few answers for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia and their caregivers.  

According to the National Institutes of Health, there are only four drugs that have been approved and are currently being used to treat patients who are symptomatic for AD, specifically donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, and memantine. On the other hand, between 1998 and 2018, there were more than 150 failed attempts at developing a reliable pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimer’s.  So why do all of these drug trials for Alzheimer’s disease keep failing—over and over and over again? Here are a few of the reasons scientists believe may be behind these failures. 

Treatment is administered too late after there has already been significant degeneration of brain health. Scientists suggest that researchers begin therapy with patients with milder, earlier incarnations of AD, rather than waiting until they already have more severe symptoms.

The treatment isn’t targeting the right aspect of the disease.  Most drugs developed for the treatment of AD target the amyloid plaques that form in the patient’s brain. Unfortunately, 100% of those medications have failed to stop or reverse Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. 

Patients in the drug trials may not have AD.  According to the Washington Post, one of the huge challenges of this research is that “dementia, confusion and personality changes are hallmark symptoms of Alzheimer’s, but the disease can be definitively diagnosed only by examining the brain in an autopsy.”

The focus should move to prevention rather than treatment with drugs.  "Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases are degenerative. A logical way to address them is to provide specific nutrients our brains need to fend off the effects of degeneration and inflammation on our brains.” — Frederic Jouhet, Memory Health® founder.

While medications given for AD and dementia may have unwelcome side effects and toxicity, there is finally a safe, natural, and proven solution to help patients afflicted with neurodegenerative disease and serve as a preventative therapy for those who wish to reduce their risk. 

The Memory Health® brain supplement has received patents in the U.S. and the U.K. for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative disease, specifically Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

The Memory Health® brain health supplement is an all-natural, patented formula made of specific plant-based nutrients called carotenoids (Lutein, Zeaxanthin, and Meso-Zeaxanthin), Omega-3s (DHA and EPA), and Natural Vitamin E. These are compounds have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which act to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation on the brain. They also promote healthy cell membranes, memory, cognition, and emotional well-being. Research demonstrates that individuals with high concentrations of carotenoids and omega-3s have demonstrated higher cognitive brain function. Substantial research has shown that patients living with Alzheimer’s disease are deficient in these nutrients.

Learn more about the research behind the Memory Health brain health supplement in our brain blog article Carotenoids and Cognition.