Drug Discovery Approaches for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders: Alzheimer's Disease examines the drug discovery process for neurodegenerative diseases by focusing specifically on Alzheimer's Disease and illustrating the paradigm necessary to ensure future research and treatment success. The book explores diagnosis, epidemiology, drug discovery strategies, current therapeutics, and much more to provide a holistic approach to the discovery, development, and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Through its coverage of the latest research in targeted drug design, preclinical studies, and mouse and rat models, the book is a must-have resource for all pharmaceutical scientists, pharmacologists, neuroscientists, and clinical researchers working in this area. It illustrates why these drugs tend to fail at the clinical stage, and examines Alzheimer's Disease within the overall context of improving the drug discovery process for the treatment of other neurodegenerative disorders. - Provides a compilation of chemical considerations required in drug discovery for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders - Examines different classes of compounds currently being used in discovery and development stages - Explores in vitro and in vivo models with respect to their ability to translate these models to human conditions - Distills the most significant information across multiple areas of Alzheimer's disease research to provide a single, comprehensive, and balanced resource

Drug Design and Discovery in Alzheimer's Disease includes expert reviews of recent developments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegenerative disease research. Originally published by Bentham as Frontiers in Drug Design and Discovery, Volume 6and now distributed by Elsevier, this compilation of the sixteen articles, written by leading global researchers, focuses on key developments in the understanding of the disease at molecular levels, identification and validation of molecular targets, as well as innovative approaches towards drug discovery, development, and delivery. Beginning with an overview of AD pharmacotherapy and existing blockbuster drugs, the reviews cover the potential of both natural and synthetic small molecules; the role of cholinesterases in the on-set and progression of AD and their inhibition; the role of beta-site APP clearing enzyme-1 (BACE-1) in the production of ß-amyloid proteins, one of the key reasons of the progression of AD; and other targets identified for AD drug discovery. - Edited and written by leading experts in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disease drug development - Describes existing drugs for AD and current molecular understanding of the condition - Reviews recent advances in the field, including coverage of cholinesterases, BACE-1, and other drug development targets

Improving and Accelerating Therapeutic Development for Nervous System Disorders is the summary of a workshop convened by the IOM Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders to examine opportunities to accelerate early phases of drug development for nervous system drug discovery. Workshop participants discussed challenges in neuroscience research for enabling faster entry of potential treatments into first-in-human trials, explored how new and emerging tools and technologies may improve the efficiency of research, and considered mechanisms to facilitate a more effective and efficient development pipeline. There are several challenges to the current drug development pipeline for nervous system disorders. The fundamental etiology and pathophysiology of many nervous system disorders are unknown and the brain is inaccessible to study, making it difficult to develop accurate models. Patient heterogeneity is high, disease pathology can occur years to decades before becoming clinically apparent, and diagnostic and treatment biomarkers are lacking. In addition, the lack of validated targets, limitations related to the predictive validity of animal models - the extent to which the model predicts clinical efficacy - and regulatory barriers can also impede translation and drug development for nervous system disorders. Improving and Accelerating Therapeutic Development for Nervous System Disorders identifies avenues for moving directly from cellular models to human trials, minimizing the need for animal models to test efficacy, and discusses the potential benefits and risks of such an approach. This report is a timely discussion of opportunities to improve early drug development with a focus toward preclinical trials.

Neurodegenerative diseases represent a very large group of heterogeneous disorders affecting specific subtypes of neurons in the brain. This book contributes insight both to the awareness of the brain and its neurodegenerative states. The chapters present current knowledge regarding genetics, molecular mechanisms, and new therapeutic strategies against neurodegenerative disorders. The book is intended to serve as a source to aid clinicians and researchers in the field, and also life science readers to increase their understanding and awareness of the clinical correlations, genetic aspects, neuropathological findings, and current therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative diseases. I believe that this book will enlighten the curiosity for neurodegeneration and also encourage researchers to work on potentially effective molecular therapies for still mysterious neurodegenerative disorders.

Nervous system diseases and disorders are highly prevalent and substantially contribute to the overall disease burden. Despite significant information provided by the use of animal models in the understanding of the biology of nervous system disorders and the development of therapeutics; limitations have also been identified. Treatment options that are high in efficacy and low in side effects are still lacking for many diseases and, in some cases are nonexistent. A particular problem in drug development is the high rate of attrition in Phase II and III clinical trials. Why do many therapeutics show promise in preclinical animal models but then fail to elicit predicted effects when tested in humans? On March 28 and 29, 2012, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders convened the workshop "Improving Translation of Animal Models for Nervous System Disorders" to discuss potential opportunities for maximizing the translation of new therapies from animal models to clinical practice. The primary focus of the workshop was to examine mechanisms for increasing the efficiency of translational neuroscience research through discussions about how and when to use animal models most effectively and then best approaches for the interpretation of the data collected. Specifically, the workshop objectives were to: discuss key issues that contribute to poor translation of animal models in nervous system disorders, examine case studies that highlight successes and failures in the development and application of animal models, consider strategies to increase the scientific rigor of preclinical efficacy testing, explore the benefits and challenges to developing standardized animal and behavioral models. Improving the Utility and Translation of Animal Models for Nervous System Disorders: Workshop Summary also identifies methods to facilitate development of corresponding animal and clinical endpoints, indentifies methods that would maximize bidirectional translation between basic and clinical research and determines the next steps that will be critical for improvement of the development and testing of animal models of disorders of the nervous system.

Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research - Dementia is a book series which presents comprehensive reviews about research on Dementia, - the loss of brain function associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other related medical conditions. The disease affects the parts of the brain that deal with memory, thought, and language. Chapters in each volume focus on drug research with special emphasis on clinical trials, research on drugs in advanced stages of development and cure for dementia and related disorders. This volume includes the following reviews: - Meeting the Challenges of Falls and Hip Fractures in People with Alzheimer’s Disease - Cholesterol in Brain Health and Pathologies - Advances in the Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Dementia - Analytical Methods in Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Discovery - Targeting Alzheimer’s Disease through Nanomedicine - Current Challenges in Alzheimer’s Disease Research - Metals Linked to Alzheimer's Disease