No. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, and no treatment reverses the damage already done. What has changed recently is that two anti-amyloid antibody treatments modestly slow decline in early disease, which is a different claim and a much smaller one than a cure. Symptomatic medications and treatment of reversible contributors remain the larger part of care.
No. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, and no treatment reverses the damage already done. What has changed recently is that two anti-amyloid antibody treatments modestly slow decline in early disease, which is a different claim and a much smaller one than a cure. Symptomatic medications and treatment of reversible contributors remain the larger part of care.
Lecanemab and donanemab clear amyloid plaques from the brain and slow the rate of cognitive decline by a modest margin in people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. They do not restore lost function or halt the disease. Eligibility requires biomarker confirmation that amyloid is present, and treatment carries a risk of brain swelling and small bleeds that has to be monitored with repeated MRI. They are given by infusion. This practice operates no infusion suite and no imaging suite, so treatment and its monitoring scans are arranged elsewhere; the diagnostic work, the eligibility discussion and the continuing care happen here.
Cholinesterase inhibitors, donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine, and the NMDA receptor antagonist memantine, produce a modest improvement or a period of relative stability for some people. They do not change the course of the disease. Judging them is difficult precisely because the benefit is measured against a decline that would have happened anyway, which is why the yardstick is function at home rather than a test score.
Some of what looks like Alzheimer's disease is not, and some of it is correctable. Vitamin B12 deficiency, thyroid disease, untreated obstructive sleep apnoea, depression, alcohol and the cumulative sedating effect of several medications all impair memory and all respond to treatment. Normal pressure hydrocephalus and Lewy body dementia have their own management. Getting the diagnosis right is not academic when a proportion of cases improve.
Clinical trials are how the treatments that exist came to exist, and enrolment is usually easiest early, which is the opposite of how patients tend to think about them. Clinical Neurology Specialists is a research partner of the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation, and asking about current studies at a diagnostic visit is reasonable rather than presumptuous.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: Alzheimer disease; National Institute on Aging: Alzheimer's treatment; National Institute on Aging: clinical trials and studies.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.