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What Are the Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease?
Medications help with some symptoms, and newer options may slow early stages of this form of dementia
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Key takeaways
- Some newer drugs may modestly slow early Alzheimer’s, but benefits remain limited.
- Leqembi and Kisunla reduce amyloid plaques but carry safety risks.
- Symptom treatments help daily function but do not stop disease progression.
In the modern medical world, when someone is diagnosed with a disease, the usual first step is to be prescribed a well-proved medicine (or two). For dementia and one of its most common causes, Alzheimer’s disease, therapies that stop the disease have been elusive. But the outlook may be changing, at least for people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in its early stages.
Newly approved drugs may slow the pace of early disease and address one of the most upsetting symptoms. Recently, for example, the Food and Drug Administration expanded the use of Auvelity, a combination drug normally prescribed for depression that research suggests may ease dementia-related agitation, a common behavioral condition that afflicts many people with Alzheimer’s and is characterized by restlessness, aggression and emotional distress.
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Auvelity is the first non-antipsychotic drug approved for this purpose. It offers a safer alternative to antipsychotics, which traditionally have been used to treat dementia-related agitation, among other things, carry the risk of increased death in older patients.
“For too long, people living with Alzheimer’s disease agitation and their families have had limited options, and the options that existed came with significant risks,” said Joanne Pike, president and chief executive officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, in a news release.
Earlier, the FDA approved two medications that slow the disease in some patients, bringing tempered excitement, says Dr. James Leverenz, professor of neurology at the University of Washington and former director of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at the Cleveland Clinic. “Perhaps we are on the road to being able to modify the disease, slow progression.”
Understanding dementia
Dementia describes cognitive decline that interferes with a person’s ability to perform daily tasks, such as managing money. Not having a full picture of the causes of dementia has made it frustratingly difficult to develop medicines that stop the disease, let alone reverse its progress.
Drugs that have been around for decades “are designed for the treatment of symptoms, and their effects are modest,” Leverenz says.
Among the various types of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease has been the focus of most of the drug development work. Nearly 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease. The past two years have brought encouraging news, as two drugs have shown effectiveness in clinical testing in people experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, specifically mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia. These stages are not to be confused with early-onset Alzheimer’s, which occurs before age 65.
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The two recently approved drugs appear to slow the progression of disease, but each comes with drawbacks. Similarly, the newly approved treatment for agitation also has side effects.
As research moves new drug options to the forefront, studies point to lifestyle changes, some of them intensive, that can help prolong everyday function and improve behavioral and psychological symptoms of the disease.
Below is a look at the medications available and what’s on the horizon.
FDA-approved medications to slow Alzheimer’s
Two drugs have full FDA approval to treat people with early-stage Alzheimer’s. Both drugs target one of the abnormal proteins that build up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, and both approvals came with caution. The drugs are named Leqembi (lecanemab) and Kisunla (donanemab).
A third drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab), got conditional FDA approval in 2021 but was discontinued by its maker, Biogen, in late January 2024.
Leqembi and Kisunla are monoclonal antibodies that help remove amyloid plaques that build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s thought that these plaques damage parts of the brain that are important for memory, thinking, learning and behavior.
Leqembi received full FDA approval in July 2023 as an IV infusion given every two weeks in a medical office. A subcutaneous version, enabling under the skin injection at home, was approved by the FDA in July 2026.
In a phase 3 study comparing the drug with placebos, Leqembi’s makers, Eisai and Biogen, showed that Leqembi reduced the level of amyloid plaques while slowing the rate of cognitive decline by 27 percent over 18 months in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. In 2025, a maintenance version of the drug was approved that patients can administer themselves with a pen-like injection at home after they’ve been on the drug for 18 months. With the 2026 approval, now patients can choose to start with the at-home injection rather than IV infusion.
“It doesn’t stop the disease, and it doesn’t make people get better, but it slows down the rate where people get worse,” says Dr. Ronald Petersen, who heads the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.
Medical cannabis helps with agitation in late-stage dementia
In a placebo versus medication study of 120 people with advanced dementia in hospice care, those taking a twice-daily dose of THC and CBD, had significantly reduced levels of agitation. This study was reported on at the 2026 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London. After 12 weeks, nearly 90 percent of those taking the treatment had less agitation, compared with 25 percent of those on a placebo.
Restlessness, aggression and emotional distress are common among people in the late stages of dementia. Further study is needed, and the researchers note that the formulations used in the study are different from THC and CBD available commercially.
Kisunla, made by Lilly and approved by the FDA in July 2024, slowed the loss of thinking and memory skills in a phase 3 study comparing the drug with placebos in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
This drug “seems to get rid of the amyloid at the core of the plaques,” Leverenz says. “There’s a feeling that this amyloid is what drives the development and progression of the disease early on.”
In an 18-month study giving Kisunla infusions in a medical office every four weeks compared with placebos, the drug slowed cognitive decline by 38 percent, researchers reported in 2023 in JAMA. Once amyloid levels dropped below a certain level, the drug was stopped.
There are important limitations on the use of Leqembi and Kisunla. The FDA says the drugs are only for those with mild cognitive impairment or mild-stage dementia.
A person with mild cognitive impairment functions independently but with some inefficiency in daily activities. A person with mild dementia may have memory loss, confusion and trouble handling finances, problems that interfere with independence.
The drugs have a risk, called ARIA, which stands for “amyloid-related imaging abnormalities.” ARIA usually shows as bleeding of the brain that may be accompanied by swelling. In the large Leqembi study, about 13 percent of patients experienced brain swelling. In the Kisunla study, 25 percent of patients taking the drug experienced brain swelling. Most of these side effects disappeared within four months.
Because people with two copies of the APOE e4 gene variant, which raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, are more likely to experience ARIA, patients considered for Leqembi or Kisunla should be tested for APOE e4. Patients taking blood thinners are also at greater risk of brain bleeds while taking these drugs.
What might future treatments look like?
Amyloid-clearing drugs may need to be paired with drugs that are designed to remove a protein called tau from the brain. In Alzheimer’s disease, tangles of abnormal tau form inside nerve cells, causing problems in communication between nerve cells. As of May 2026, 158 drugs were being tested, and 36 of those were in phase 3 testing, the late-stage large studies to test treatment effectiveness.
Researchers, including those supported by AARP and others through the Dementia Discovery Fund, are developing and testing other approaches to treat Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Drugs to ease behaviors and other symptoms
Several medications are available to treat certain Alzheimer’s symptoms, and some are used for other forms of dementia as well. These treatments do not slow progression of disease. They include:
- Cholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs prevent the breakdown of a brain chemical called acetylcholine that’s important for memory and thinking, says Dr. Gary Small, at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey. Three examples are Aricept (donepezil), Exelon (rivastigmine) and Razadyne (galantamine), all approved for Alzheimer’s. Exelon is also approved to treat dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease.
- Namenda (memantine). This drug inhibits the activity of a brain chemical called glutamate, which sends messages between nerve cells. In Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells make too much glutamate, which causes damage and cell death. Namenda is approved for people with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease. The drug can be used on its own or with a cholinesterase inhibitor, Small says.
- Belsomra (suvorexant). This drug inhibits a brain chemical called orexin, which can keep a person awake. Belsomra is approved to treat insomnia in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Doctors may prescribe the following drugs to treat symptoms that can appear in later stages of the disease:
- Antidepressants such as Zoloft (sertraline) to improve mood and irritability, although studies have questioned their effectiveness.
- Antipsychotic medications such as Risperdal (risperidone) or Haldol (haloperidol) for hallucinations, delusions, aggression or agitation. These drugs may not be appropriate for people with Lewy body dementia or Parkinson’s disease dementia, Petersen cautions, as they may worsen behavioral symptoms.
- Rexulti (brexpiprazole), the first antiagitation drug to receive FDA approval (in May 2023), is prescribed for Alzheimer’s-related agitation, which can include pacing, restlessness and verbal or physical aggression, among other behaviors. The drug comes with a black box warning, the FDA’s strongest, of an increased risk of death in older people with dementia.
Auvelity (dextromethorphan hydrobromide and bupropion hydrochloride), extended-release tablets, was approved in 2026 to treat agitation. Because it is not an antispsychotic drug, it is considered a safer alternative.
In two clinical trials, the medication was more effective in lessening agitation than a placebo. But, as with most drugs, there are side effects. The most common include dizziness, upset stomach, headache, diarrhea, drowsiness, dry mouth, sexual dysfunction and uncontrolled sweating.
The FDA warns health care providers to monitor patients for clinical worsening and suicidal ideation, especially during initial treatment. The medicine also can cause seizures. Seizure risk increases with dose and elevated blood pressure and, in some susceptible patients, it may activate mania or hypomania (irritable mood), the FDA says.
Before starting Auvelity, health care providers should assess blood pressure, screen for personal or family history of bipolar disorder and determine if patients are taking any medications containing bupropion or dextromethorphan because of potentially adverse drug interactions.
Although there are medications to treat other forms of dementia, they are usually geared to a specific condition, Petersen says. The treatment for vascular dementia, for example, is often aimed at improving blood vessel health, which means getting control of risk factors such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and being overweight.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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