Alzheimer's research is in the news more than ever as cultural and political factors enter the discussion. AD is such a terrible, incurable process, and affects so many families, that it is not surprising that the goal to find a cure is accelerating at a rapid pace.
One great example is in 2018 Bill Gates announced that a coalition of philanthropists have committed $30 million for research on promising and innovative ideas to diagnose the early onset of AD before symptoms occur. The designation is the Diagnostics Accelerator fund. This approach is probably the most promising, as it known that whatever causes the onset of AD seems to occur 10-20 years prior to symptoms.
The other approach of research is the development of drugs and associated clinical trials that attempt to arrest, cure (or prevent) AD. Over the years this has been largely ineffective. One emerging consensus is that once changes take place in the brain they are irreversible, so drugs won't work. Another is that treatments are begun too late in the course of the disease i.e- symptoms have already developed. Both are probably correct.
Yet research continues, mostly centered around amyloid, which is often associated with AD. Some new research is about tau. No meaningful positive results have occurred even as billions of dollars are spent on AD research. This blog has attempted to highlight some of these issues in previous posts.
One problem plaguing all medical research, including AD, is the not usually talked about conflicts of interest. Too often articles are published, even in prestigious medical journals, touting the latest and greatest drug, only to be proven inadequate upon further and/or independent testing. Many published researchers are paid by the pharmaceutical industry to study drugs in development. Unfortunately, some researchers are dependent on the largess of drugs firms for future funding and may not be as objective as one might expect. The worst thing is that many times the conflict is not revealed by the researchers, so the public has no way of knowing. Conflicting results from different researchers can be confusing,
Now the latest theories about cause and effect involve infectious diseases. More will come about this in future blogs. So, at this stage, we still seem to be floundering. Lots of thoughts, lot of money, lots of frustration. Where will it lead? AD is indeed very complicated.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/899446
