Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major type of dementia that afflicts about 30 million people worldwide [
1]. Pathologically, this disease is characterized by the presence of senile plaques, composed primarily of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), and neurofibrillary tangles, composed mainly of phosphorylated tau protein, as well as loss of synapses and neurons [
2]. The few drugs currently approved for clinical use, such as donepezil, provide only symptomatic and short-term benefits [
3]. Because the accumulation of Aβ, particularly the oligomeric species, appears to play a primary pathogenic role in AD [
4,
5], it is a primary target for disease-modifying therapeutics of AD. Aβ is generated by serial cleavages of its precursor, amyloid precursor protein (APP), by β-secretase (or BACE1) and γ-secretase [
6]. Thus, inhibitors or modulators of these proteases are being developed. Other possible interventions include Aβ immunotherapy to promote Aβ clearance and inhibition of Aβ oligomerization [
3,
7]. No such drugs have yet been proven clinically effective, despite the urgent need to find new treatments for AD. It, therefore, seems an attractive strategy to assess the anti-Aβ effects of drugs approved for the treatment of other diseases. Such a "drug repositioning" or "repurposing" approach is thought to have several advantages, including reduced time and costs necessary for clinical trials [
8,
9]. A paper by Hayes
et al. published recently in
BMC Medicine [
10] describes an interesting oncology drug that may potentially be used as a disease-modifying drug in patients with AD.