New Treatments & Clinical Trials for Dementia

Dementia describes a decline in memory, thinking, and daily function caused by diseases like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Over 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer's alone. Until recently, treatment focused on managing symptoms, but new drugs that target amyloid plaques have opened a path toward slowing disease progression.

What's actually going on in research

Trials are testing anti-amyloid antibodies like lecanemab and donanemab, which received FDA approval in 2023 and 2024 to slow early Alzheimer's. Other research explores tau-targeting drugs, anti-inflammatory approaches, lifestyle interventions including diet and exercise, blood-based biomarkers for earlier detection, and treatments for non-Alzheimer's dementias that lack approved therapies. Researchers are also studying genetic risk factors and prevention in people without symptoms.

What to know before you search

Eligibility often depends on dementia type, disease stage, biomarker confirmation through brain imaging or blood tests, and whether the person has certain genetic variants like APOE4.

What types of trials are currently open

• Anti-amyloid trials — Testing antibodies that clear amyloid plaques, typically in people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's confirmed by brain imaging or blood tests.
• Anti-tau trials — Testing drugs that target tau tangles, which appear to drive nerve cell death in Alzheimer's and some other dementias.
• Prevention trials — Testing treatments in people at high genetic risk or with early biomarker changes but no symptoms, to see if dementia can be prevented.
• Lifestyle trials — Testing whether exercise, diet, cognitive training, or combinations of these can slow cognitive decline or reduce dementia risk.
• Non-Alzheimer's trials — Testing treatments for Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia, which lack approved disease-modifying therapies.