Clinical trials in predementia stages of Alzheimer disease

Effective treatments of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia are an urgent necessity. There is a growing consensus that effective disease-modifying treatment before the onset of clinical dementia and slowing the progression of mild symptoms are needed after recent setbacks in AD therapeutics. The identification of at-risk and preclinical AD populations is becoming important for targeting primary and secondary prevention clinical trials in AD. This article reviews the strategies and challenges in targeting at-risk and preclinical AD populations for a new generation of AD clinical trials. Design, outcome measures, and complexities in successfully completing a clinical trial targeting this population are reviewed.