Research and development of anti-Alzheimer’s disease drugs: an update from the perspective of technology flows

Abstract

Today, over 20 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease (AD) worldwide. AD has become a critical issue to human health, especially in aging societies, and therefore it is a research hotspot in the global scientific community. The technology flow method differs from traditional reviews generating an informative overview of the research and development (R&D) landscape in a specific technological area. We need such an updated method to get a general overview of the R&D of anti-AD drugs in light of the dramatic developments in this area in recent years. Areas covered: This study collects patent data from the Integrity database. A total of 399 patents with 821 internal citation pairs in the US from 1978 to 2017 were analyzed. Patent citation network analysis was used to visualize the technology relationship. Expert opinion: For better production of anti-AD drugs, governments should emphasize the multi-target drug design, provide policy support for private companies, and encourage multilateral cooperation. The β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) theory leaves much to be desired; neurotransmitter and tau protein hypotheses are worth further examination. The use of old drugs for new indications is promising, as are traditional herbal medicines.

A quantitative analysis method for a new glycogen synthase kinase‐3 inhibitor and its pharmacokinetics in rats

“…At present, the pathogenesis of AD is not completely clear; there are many theories, such as amyloid cascade theory (Castellani et al, 2019), tau hyper‐phosphorylation theory (Turab Naqvi et al, 2020), glycogen synthase kinase‐3 (GSK‐3) theory (Maqbool et al, 2016), and metal ion theory (Arrigoni et al, 2020). In recent years, drug research and development have been actively carried out in the field of AD and anti‐AD drugs have been continuously studied given the complex pathogenesis of AD (Jameel et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2018), but few new drugs have been produced and many clinical trials have failed in the meantime (Liu et al, 2018). The existing anti‐AD drugs provide only symptomatic treatment for patients and delay the process of AD to some extent.…”

Therapeutic effects of total saikosaponins from Radix bupleuri against Alzheimer’s disease

“…Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and multifaceted neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system with dementia, loss of memory, and cognitive disturbance ( Luo et al, 2016 ). At present, cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) and N-methyl- d -aspartate receptor antagonists such as donepezil, rivastin, galantamine, and memantine have been approved for clinical treatment of AD, which are single-target drugs that can only show mild and temporary improvement in learning and memory dysfunction accompanied by hepatotoxicity or cholinergic crisis, indicating that improving cognitive function through a single target is not a feasible therapeutic approach ( Yang et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2018 ; Osama et al, 2020 ; Scheltens Philip, 2021 ). Therefore, developing multi-target, low-toxicity, and effective drugs for the treatment of AD is necessary.…”