Rather than seeking a single cure -- a magic bullet -- for Alzheimer's disease, a shotgun blast of different drugs with different targets may be a better approach to this very complex condition.
Listen to this article 8 min Listen to this article 8 min Why are researchers still fumbling in the quest to cure what is arguably one of the most important diseases confronting humankind -- Alzheimer's disease? Despite decades of research, there is still no curative treatment for Alzheimer's - no "magic bullet" that stops this devastating degenerative brain disease in its tracks.
Not surprisingly, finding the magic bullet has become the holy grail for Alzheimer's researchers. But it's proving to be an immense challenge. A magic bullet is a drug that completely cures a disease, doing so with few if any side-effects.
Penicillin is a great example of a magic bullet. Penicillin kills bacteria, leading to cures for infectious diseases like strep throat, while causing minimal side effects. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), on the other hand, is definitely not a magic bullet. It is a symptomatic agent that reduces fever and pain in diseases like strep throat but fails to actually cure the underlying disease.
Alzheimer's needs a magic bullet, not an aspirin-like agent.
Two doctors in Frankfurt in 1907
The Nobel Prize-winning idea that scientists could invent magic bullets was first <a...
