Future therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer's disease.

As palliative treatments for Alzheimer's disease proliferate, the focus of therapeutics turns to drugs with the potential to alter course. Evidence is reviewed, suggesting that there is biological plausibility to utilizing anti-inflammatory agents, antioxidants, free-radical scavengers, estrogen preparations, and perhaps cholinomimetics. This range of possibilities leads to an optimistic assessment of the likelihood for altering the course or delaying the onset of Alzheimer's disease.