Alzheimer's Research & Therapy


Editorial

Welcome to Alzheimer's Research & Therapy

Ann Donnelly1, Doug Galasko2*, Todd Golde2*, Frances Mulvany3 and Gordon Wilcock2*

Author Affiliations

1 Medical Editor, Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, Floor 6, 236 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HL, UK

2 Editor-in-Chief, Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, Floor 6, 236 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HL, UK

3 In-house editor, Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, Floor 6, 236 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HL, UK

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Alzheimers Res Ther 2009, 1:1 doi:10.1186/alzrt1

Published: 9 July 2009

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating condition thought to affect more than 37 million people worldwide, a figure that is predicted to increase dramatically with an ageing population. After the description of AD by Alois Alzheimer in the early 1900s [1], the last century saw only incremental advances with respect to our treatment of this neurodegenerative disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, the two approved therapies for use in patients with AD, provide at best modest symptomatic benefit and do not appear to significantly alter the disease course. Recent years have seen great strides in our knowledge regarding the pathogenic cascades that trigger the disease, and these advances have been a catalyst for the development of new therapeutics that are hoped to be disease modifying.