ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Pharmacotherapy has been available to address the progressive cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s disease since the mid-1990s. Despite meeting regulatory criteria for approval, the utility of these therapies has been controversial, and they remain undervalued by many prescribers (1). In approaching therapy for cognition in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), it is important to recognize that improvement in current symptoms is not the only model for successful treatment. A therapy that reduces or delays progression, even if it does not lead to clinically evident improvement, can be a meaningful benefit to patients (1,2). The idea of “benefit” without symptomatic “improvement” will continue to be important as new drug treatments enter the field. Many of the potential treatments under development are hypothesized to reduce neuronal death and slow disease progression rather than provide short-term symptomatic improvements.
