Optimism regarding the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer disease has begun to
replace the attitude of therapeutic nihilism that clouded the field for so many decades.
Neurotransmitter-based therapy with AChEls and NMDA receptor antagonists are now in
current use; anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative approaches as well as compounds to block
Aβ aggregation are being tested in the clinic; β-and γ-secretase inhibitors designed to
reduce generation of Aβ peptides are under development. One of the more provocative …