title: Why as a medicinal chemist I am not optimistic about the possibility of finding, in a reasonable timeframe, small-molecule drugs capable of curing the evolution of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Herein I explain why I feel that new and effective Alzheimer's disease (AD) drugs cannot emerge from current developed concepts such as the amyloid pathway, or acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. The discovery of new therapeutic approaches first requires an understanding of the intimate structure of brain matter, where memory and cognition are located, and how aging alters its structure and function. Only by joining the expertise of quantum physicists and physical chemists with that of medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, biologists and medical doctors can new AD research orientations emerge.
authors: Laboratoire de Chimie Biomoléculaire IBDML, UMR 6216, CNRS, Université de la Méditerranée, Parc Scientifique de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France. kraus@univmed.fr
authors: Jean-Louis
authors: JL
authors: Kraus
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000503:physiopathology; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D018450:Disease Progression; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D017785:Photons; D011789:Quantum Theory
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases