There is NO disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD). Did you know that France stopped reimbursing Alzheimer medications like donepezil (Aricept TM) and memantine (Namenda TM) back in 2018? But today is World Alzheimer’s Day: a broadcast email today invited contributions.
Researchers have been trying. Alzheimer Gadfly (this blog) has noted some accomplishments in AD clinical research: numerous clinical trials of amyloid monoclonals or metabolic pathway agents (BACE), a few tau agents, even a larger pragmatic clinical trial (minocycline) were mounted but failed; a small repurposing trial (rasagiline) looked promising; in 2018, NIH funding crossed the $2 billion threshold [NCI ~$6B, NHLBI ~$3B].
Epidemiology, prevention, high tech descriptive research (examining the molecular biology of various “-omics,”) to lower tech interventions of behavioral modifications are also all part of the broad research endeavors. But how is it that there is still no viable, reliable or effective way to even stop the progression of AD?
Comparison to cancer: 1. Am Cancer Soc claims the largest one year drop in cancer deaths, mainly due to progress in lung cancer. 2. The latest available Leukemia Lymphoma Society Annual Report (2019), says the FDA approved 65 new blood cancer indications since 2017 (might not all be new drugs, but agents proven to work in other cancers, i.e. repurposing). 3. Brain / nervous system cancers are the leading cause of cancer deaths under age 20 (op.cit), and there hasn’t been much progress in one of the worst brain malignancies in adults, glioblastoma multiforme.
So oncologists understand that working with brain diseases can be frustrating and not like other parts of the body, for a number of reasons. But let’s hope that a World Alzheimer’s Day soon can celebrate real life-impacting progress for people living with dementia, here and now.