What would be an appropriate word for a medicine that prevents Alzheimer's Disease?

Medicines that people take or give to their children and pets in the hope of preventing infectious diseases are called "vaccines", "immunizations", "inoculations", or "prophylactics".

In discussing the idea that in the future, there may be a medicine that prevents Alzheimer's Disease, what word might we use to describe it? I doubt that the listed terms would reasonably apply because they are all used to describe medicines that prevent infectious diseases as opposed to disease caused by the body not working right.

The word vaccine comes from the Latin word for cow because the first vaccines were derived from cows, so that doesn't sound like it has anything to do with AD.

Likewise, immunization suggests that there is something that your body becomes immune to, but in AD, there is no pathogen to be immune to.

All of the cited words are associated with medicines that induce an antibody response, which probably has nothing to do with AD.

If such a medicine were available today to prevent AD and I were going to the doctor's office to receive it, how would I tell you this?

I would say, "I am going to the doctor's office to get __________?

Solution 1:

I think preventive treatment may fit in the context:

• a procedure, measure, substance, or program designed to prevent a disease from occurring or a mild disorder from becoming more severe.

• I am going to the doctor's office to get the preventive treatment for Alzheimer.

Solution 2:

There is a current term: anti-Alzheimer (or anti-Alzheimer's) drug/medication. There are also recent studies on drugs for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

Below excerpt is from an article titled "Anti-Alzheimer's Drug Shows Promise in Mice Study" on medicinenet.com:

Researchers working with mice have identified a drug they believe holds promise as a preventive treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

In the study, the compound cut levels of amyloid beta -- a protein associated with this degenerative brain disease -- by about half, the researchers said.

Additionally, Alzheimer's disease is often confused with amnesia because amnesia is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is also the term anti-amnesic that can also define certain drugs for symptomatic treatments.

For example, the below title is from a publication on ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:
Anti-amnesic effect of pseudoginsenoside-F11 in two mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.

Solution 3:

Since such a treatment doesn't exist, there is not a word for it yet. Typically, people will invent a vernacular neologism to describe the treatment, usually from a brand name or company. Examples of this are "Depo" for Depo-Provera birth control shot and aspirin (a brand name from Bayer for acetylsalicylic acid.)

People also might create a vague term describing the process. For example, I do not hear many people say "I am going to get immunized against influenza." I do hear "I'm going to get my flu shot." People never say they're getting a "Colonic Lavage" but a "colonic."

So Alzheimer's shot may be a possibility. The generic Vaccine may also be used, regardless of the technical accuracy, since the term means "a shot to prevent sickness" in the minds of the masses.