Are drugs targeted at Alzheimer's disease useful? 2. Insufficient evidence of worthwhile benefit.

trials are currently under way in Canada, the United States, France, Sweden, and Britain. My research group is currently conducting a large double blind crossover study, and a preliminary analysis by the person holding the code suggests that there is clear evidence of significant therapeutic benefit for tacrine treatment over placebo. If the drug does indeed work it might have nothing to do with its action as a cholinesterase inhibitor as it has numerous other actions, including blockade of potassium channels7 and inhibition of monoamine oxidase." These and other mechanisms are receiving separate experimental attention. Thus the search for its mechanism of action may lead to the development of more effective and possibly safer drugs.