title: Latest treatment options for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) together account for the vast majority of individuals with dementia. Approximately 35 million people worldwide are affected with this condition, and despite decades of research, effective therapies that slow or reverse disease progression have not yet been developed. The recent failure of several large-scale clinical trials is beginning to challenge the magnitude of focus on amyloid-related therapies for AD, and newer drug targets that have shown promise in the laboratory are being investigated in clinical trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review summarises the current understanding of the underlying biology of AD, PDD and DLB and outlines the most recent drug candidates in advanced clinical trials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lack of success in drug discovery for disease-modifying therapies for AD, PDD and DLB can be attributed to limitations in the design of clinical trials and the narrow focus of molecular targets for treatment. New avenues for drug discovery including repositioning and novel target identification may now provide opportunities for success, provided a critical mass of clinical trials is achieved through increased investment.
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Wolfson Centre of Age-Related Diseases , London SE1 1UL , UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Broadstock
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corbett
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D018450:Disease Progression; D058492:Drug Repositioning; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease dementia; clinical trials; dementia; dementia with Lewy bodies; treatment