Continuing the fight against Alzheimer’s disease

In light of Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month in June, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this disease, which is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time. After decades of research and billions of dollars spent in the quest for a cure, nearly all Alzheimer’s drugs have failed tests in the clinic. Today only five therapies are on the market for Alzheimer’s, and these only address some symptoms of the disease—they don’t slow or stop its progression.

It is clear that there is tremendous need among patients with this debilitating condition. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 47 million people worldwide have the disease or other forms of dementia, and there are nearly 10 million new cases each year. And when you consider that the percent of the world’s population over age 65 is expected to double by 2050 (to 17%, or about 1.6 billion people), the magnitude of this global challenge is growing. This translates into an immense impact on patients, on the healthcare system and society.  

But I am hopeful and inspired when I think about the scientific community’s unrelenting dedication to tackling this challenge. We must recognize that although the many failures in this area seem discouraging, researchers around the world are learning from them. I believe these are the stepping stones to a future breakthrough.

According to a 2016 report by PhRMA, 77 drugs are being investigated for Alzheimer’s disease. For many years, researchers have been targeting amyloid plaques that build up in the brain, which is believed to be a possible cause of the disease. Some critics question if this is the best route to target given slow progress in this area. Others suggest the issue may be that amyloid must be targeted much earlier, even before signs of the disease appear.

Scientists at Novartis, in collaboration with Amgen Inc. and Banner Alzheimer’s Institute are at clinical stages of exploring whether we can significantly slow down or stop the formation of amyloid in people who don’t yet have the disease, but are genetically at risk of developing it. A key challenge in this area of science is identifying and recruiting participants for a clinical study, before they present symptoms. We welcome this challenge and are exploring a variety of channels to find these high-risk individuals so we can offer the study to them.

Alzheimer’s is such a complex disease that if we can just slow down its progression, we will have achieved a lot for patients and their families. Stories of the impacts of the disease are nothing short of heartbreaking. One patient, Kris, became suddenly forgetful at the age of 46 and couldn’t remember things like her phone number, colleagues’ names or even, on bad days, how to get home. She realized she had to stop hiding her confusion when she got lost in a department store and couldn’t remember where she was or how she got there.

Caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s is also a taxing and challenging effort. One woman, Rosalinda, described how her father with Alzheimer’s wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m., fighting and saying he wants to go home, though he can’t tell her where home is. She cries herself to sleep many nights with worry, and wrote of her experience caring for her father: “If I had one wish, it would be that I…not ever have to let my family or kids see what I saw as a caregiver.”

The road to find effective treatments for Alzheimer’s will be long and hard. But our quest is not over. We owe it to patients and their caregivers to keep fighting until we find a better way to attack this devastating illness.