We’ve talked a lot about clinical trials of several so-called disease modifying drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. These are medications designed to slow and perhaps even stop the progression of Alzheimer’s. Most of them so far have been drugs that remove beta-amyloid from the brain or block its production. Almost all of the clinical trials of these anti-amyloid drugs have been disappointing, although recently lecanemab received accelerated approval by the FDA based on effectiveness of removing amyloid plaques from the brain and a 27% slowing of cognitive decline, breathing a bit of new life into the amyloid hypothesis. Trials of drugs designed to remove tau, the abnormal protein in neurofibrillary tangles, have all failed so far. The development costs to design, test, produce, and conduct clinical trials on new drug candidates are enormous, costing hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars. A parallel effort is under way to find out if some drugs already in use for other disorders might have a benefit in Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a public health challenge that grows in urgency every year. As the world’s largest dedicated voluntary health organization to AD and related dementia (ADRD), the Alzheimer’s Association has a vision of a world without AD and ADRD. In addition to providing care and support in communities across the United States and actively pursuing advocacy for federal research support and community needs,it is committed to advancing vital research toward methods of treatment, prevention, and a cure. In addition to financial support to researchers worldwide, it promotes the sharing of knowledge and data, gathering key stakeholders form the field, including academia, federal, non-profit and industry to advance research (such as through the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference) and accelerating clinical trial research though Alzheimer’s Association TrialMatc. The Association’s funding expands the full spectrum of research, with focused funding on drug development and early-phase human trials.