New treatments in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 50 million people worldwide. Its prevalence is increasing mainly as a result of an ageing population with considerable associated increases in health and social care costs. As a result, government agencies worldwide have turned funding streams towards unravelling biological mechanisms and developing therapeutic opportunities for the dementias in general. Consequently, a number of novel potential treatments have been developed, although, to date, they have not been shown to significantly alter disease course. In this month’s journal club we look at three large clinical trials of new treatments in Alzheimer’s disease. © The Author(s) 2018.