The Hitchhiker's Guide was right. We spend all our time inventing new cures for the mice!
This is so obvious that the only thing I can think is that they simply don't care. They just want to find something that masks the symptoms (perhaps to keep patients dependent on the drug for life if they succeed).
What causes Alzheimer gentlemen? very few people is really trying to solve this answer.
Is it even known what causes the moments of lucidity in patients? Molecules should be mapped to identify the patterns (and therefore track possible sources).