FLICKR, US NAVYAlzheimer’s is among aging’s most enigmatic diseases. Despite decades of research, there is no cure, no preventative, and little in the way of treatment. Moreover, the disease is still difficult to diagnose before deteriorating cognitive abilities make it obvious—too late for treatments that could add meaningful years to a patient’s life if given at an early stage.
“Every single Alzheimer’s agent for the past 25 years has failed egregiously,” said Derek Lowe, a medicinal chemist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston and long-time drug discovery blogger. “If we’re going to have any hope at all, we’ve got to get in as early as possible.”
A handful of recently announced trials that are doing just that. Last week (July 15), for example, Novartis announced its partnership with the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix to test two drugs known to target the disease’s characteristic amyloid plaques in the brain. The trial aims to recruit more than 1,300 healthy individuals, ages 60 to 75, carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene (who are therefore at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s), to see if these drugs are ...
