Alagebrium (formerly known as ALT-711) - is one of the better known compounds discovered and developed with the intent of repairing a type of accumulated damage that leads to age-related degeneration. In this case, the damage is the buildup of extracellular protein crosslinks, and amongst them the type known as advanced glycation endproducts. The formation of advanced glycation end-products is associated with arterial stiffness in experimental models and alagebrium, an advanced glycation end-product cross-link breaker, has been shown to reduce arterial stiffness in elderly subjects. Alagebrium is an AGE-lowering agent with beneficial effects in renal structural and functional parameters in diabetes, decreased diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis, and age-related myocardial stiffening. ALT-711 exhibits a structural homology to thiamine, and it was suggested to interfere with thiamine metabolism. Enzyme kinetic experiments showed that ALT-711 dose-dependently decreased TDPK activity with K(i)s, calculated by different experiments and fitting models ranging from 0.88 to 1.09 uM. Alagebrium has been investigated for the treatment and prevention of aging, heart failure, physical activity, diabetic nephropathy, and cardiovascular disease, among others. However, this research has been discontinued.