Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there are treatments that extend cognitive health and delay symptoms from progressing as quickly. Dr. Rudy Tanzi, PhD, a neurology professor at Harvard, director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and who is credited for discovering the first Alzheimer’s gene, explains that there are two prominent drugs currently being used for managing Alzheimer’s: Leqembi and Kisunla.
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Soon, these two expensive drugs may not be the only way Alzheimer’s is treated. There are a few groundbreaking new medical treatments that may soon become widely available, including one that Dr. Tanzi is helping develop.
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Forty years ago, Dr. Tanzi discovered the first Alzheimer’s gene, the amyloid precursor protein, or APP for short. APP is a normal protein in the brain that everyone has, but inheriting a mutation of this gene is associated with a high likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s.
Now, Dr. Tanzi is helping develop a drug called gamma-secretase modulator, which works by shifting amyloid-beta production toward shorter peptides. This is important because longer peptides are more prone to aggregation and plaque formation, while shorter peptides are less likely to clump. These modulators change where gamma-secretase cleaves the amyloid precursor protein (APP), shifting production away from longer amyloid-beta forms toward shorter ones.
Similarly, Dr. Tanzi notes that there is a blood test that can identify if someone has plaques and tau tangles in their brain (both associated with Alzheimer’s). “In a perfect world, everyone over 50 would get this blood test, and if they find out that a pathology for Alzheimer’s is brewing—because the pathology for Alzheimer’s forms an average of 22 years before symptoms—they can receive the drug as a preventative treatment,” Dr. Tanzi says.
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2. A device that improves blood flow to the brain
Dr. Arman Fesharaki-Zabeh, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at Yale School of Medicine, explains that external counterpulsation works by wearing a device that improves blood flow, oxygenation and vascular health in the brain. This is important because impaired vascular function is the second-most common cause of dementia, according to scientific research.
While promising, Dr. Fesharazki-Zabeh says that larger-scale studies on external counterpulsation need to be done to prove it really works. That is the only way it can move toward FDA clearance and become available.
3. Trontinemab, the newest amyloid-targeted therapy
Preliminary clinical trials on a new drug, trontinemab, show it may work just as well as existing drugs, but can be taken at a lower dose, which decreases this risk. Dr. Fesharazki-Zabeh says that trontinemab just moved into Phase 3, which is the final stage before FDA approval. But this stage can take more than two years, so it will still be several years before this treatment could become available.
Dr. Fesharazki-Zabeh points to 14 modifiable risk factors that can prevent or delay nearly half of all dementia cases. Some of these recommendations include treating hearing loss, managing high cholesterol, not smoking, being physically active, treating depression, minimizing alcohol, maintaining social relationships and treating vision loss. “Prevention is by far more effective than any treatment for Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Fesharazki-Zabeh says.
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Sources
2026 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s Association.Dr. Rudy Tanzi, PhD, neurology professor at Harvard, director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and who is credited for discovering the first Alzheimer’s gene.Lecanemab Approved for Treatment of Early Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s Association.New Alzheimer’s drugs expected to strain Medicare’s budget, potentially raising premiums. Healthcare Brew. Nordvall, G., Lundkvist, J. and Sandin, J. (2023). Gamma-secretase modulators: a promising route for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1279740.Cummings, J. L., Zhou, Y., Yang, Y., et al. (2026). Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2026. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions. doi.org/10.1002/trc2.70251.Hence then, the article about there are 3 groundbreaking alzheimer s treatments on the horizon a neurologist explains how they work was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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