On the 7th of September this year, readers of the British press were presented with some very encouraging news. “Alzheimer’s gene hope for 100,000 Brits,” said The Sun. “The breakthrough, announced yesterday, was called ‘the biggest advance in Alzheimer’s research for 15 years’.” According to the Daily Telegraph, “If [the research team] can prevent the new genes’ effects they could halt 20 percent of cases.” A leading scientist did add the qualifier that “I don’t think that you should expect new treatments to come overnight.”
So we’re what, then, maybe a couple of years from curing Alzheimer’s?
In fact, the discovery of genes weakly associated with a complex disease, while of considerable scientific interest, is so far from being parlayed into practical benefit that it is barely worth mentioning at this stage, let alone stoking hopes among those already suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
That research is presented to the public ...
