The unmet need for the development of effective drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease has been steadily growing, representing a major challenge in drug discovery. In this context, drug repurposing, namely the identification of novel therapeutic indications for approved or investigational compounds, can be seen as an attractive attempt to obtain new medications reducing both the time and the economic burden usually required for research and development programs. In the last years, several classes of drugs have evidenced promising beneficial effects in neurodegenerative diseases, and for some of them, preliminary clinical trials have been started. This review aims to illustrate some of the most recent examples of drugs reprofiled for Alzheimer’s disease, considering not only the finding of new uses for existing drugs but also the new hypotheses on disease pathogenesis that could promote previously unconsidered therapeutic regimens. Moreover, some examples of structural modifications performed on existing drugs in order to obtain multifunctional compounds will also be described.

对开发有效的药物来治疗阿尔茨海默氏病的未满足需求一直在稳步增长，这是药物发现中的主要挑战。在这种情况下，药物重用，即鉴定已批准或待研究化合物的新治疗适应症，可以看作是获得新药物的诱人尝试，它减少了研发计划通常所需的时间和经济负担。在过去的几年中，几类药物已被证明对神经退行性疾病具有令人鼓舞的有益作用，对于其中一些药物，已经开始了初步的临床试验。这篇评论旨在说明一些因阿尔茨海默氏病而重新配置的药物的最新实例，不仅要考虑发现现有药物的新用途，还要考虑可能促进以前未考虑的治疗方案的疾病发病机理的新假设。此外，还将描述对现有药物进行结构修饰以获得多功能化合物的一些实例。