What Went Wrong: Three Major Challenges To Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery

Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of individuals worldwide. It is the most common cause of dementia and is increasingly prevalent in older populations. In the United States alone, the number of adults affected with Alzheimer’s disease has been projected to reach 13.8 million by 2050,¹ with the incidence of the disease occurrence doubling every ten years. Alois Alzheimer published the first case study describing distinctive structures, called plaques, in the brain of a patient with memory impairment in 1906.² Since then, our understanding of the disease that bears his name has grown rapidly. However, to date, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and it inevitably progresses in all patients. Why doesn’t a cure exist yet? There is no simple answer to this question. However, a deeper understanding of the disease process and a closer look at clinical trial challenges may help to shed some light.