rapidly progress towards debilitating conditions. The appearance of deposits of the microtubule-associated tau protein as e.g. neurofibrillary tangles in neurons of the brain is a common feature of tauopathies that is shared with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuronal tau deposits are known to be a major contributor to neurodegeneration and mutations in the tau gene are causative of the tauopathy fronto-temporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17).

Due to increasing life expectancy, Alzheimer’s disease is viewed as one of the largest healthcare problems of this century, imposing a major economic burden on societies in the Western and developing world. Current treatment options provide limited benefits supporting the urgent need for more efficacious and better tolerated medicines that address symptomatic relief as well as disease progression.