Analysis of neuroprotective medication in patients with neurocognitive disorders: The efficacy and tolerability of highly purified animal tissues extracts

Neurocognitive disorders are extremely invalidating psychiatric disorders with chronic courses and significant negative impacts over all areas of cognitive functioning and behavioral activity. Although extensive research on these progressive neurodegenerative disorders has been conducted, pathogenetic treatments with long-term significant benefits are yet controversial. From a clinical perspective, there is an acute need to find therapeutic strategies that could delay cognitive impairment in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), etc. Also, slowing the transition from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to clinically significant AD is another important clinical aspect, with a major impact on the patient’s daily functioning, quality of life, and caregivers’ burden. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) are still the first line of treatment in AD patients, and they are also administered in the case of VaD or Parkinson’s dementia. Various nootropics have been studied in this population, as add-on agents. Highly purified animal tissue extracts (HPATE) are administered in patients with neurocognitive disorders due to their neurotrophic properties, but many questions remain unanswered regarding their pharmacodynamic characteristics. These extracts may be added to AChEI to enhance their pro-cognitive effect, but evidence to support the superior efficacity of this association versus AChEI monotherapy is mainly derived from low-to-medium quality clinical trials. In conclusion, HPATE may be a useful add-on to first-line pro-cognitive agents in AD and VaD, but larger trials with better methodology are needed. In particular cases, however, HPATE may be of significant interest for patients with mild-to-moderate AD, based on results from clinical practice.