Brain Health

Major Review Finds Alzheimer's Amyloid Drugs Fail to Help and May Harm

A landmark Cochrane review analyzing 17 clinical trials and over 20,000 participants has concluded that drugs designed to clear amyloid beta plaques from the brain do not meaningfully slow Alzheimer's disease. Despite reducing amyloid levels, these treatments failed to produce clinically significant improvements in memory or dementia severity. Worse, they were linked to increased rates of brain swelling and bleeding, often detectable only on scans. Researchers say the findings challenge the dominant amyloid hypothesis that has guided Alzheimer's drug development for decades. The authors are now calling for a strategic shift toward other biological pathways, as the current approach appears unlikely to yield the breakthroughs patients urgently need.