Abstract Body

Creating Pathways for Breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s Disease

Stephen Salloway, M.D., M.S.
Martin M. Zucker Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Alzheimer’s disease represents an epidemic within a pandemic in our aging world. The disease currently has no meaningful treatment to slow progression but we are on the verge of breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s disease research thanks to the inspiring contributions of thousands of study participants and the dedication of talented researchers. This presentation will review the progress we have made and the challenges we face to create pathways for major advances in diagnosis and treatment.

In 2012 the United States launched the National Plan to Address Against Alzheimer’s Disease which has led to a dramatic increase in AD research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH has partnered with industry and foundation funders to create landmark observational trials that have advanced our understanding of the evolution of AD pathogenesis. Advances in molecular brain imaging can now safely detect AD pathological changes years before cognitive decline, opening the era for Alzheimer’s prevention. Drugs that modify amyloid and tau to slow the disease course are currently under regulatory review. Promising plasma and digital biomarkers will soon be available to make early diagnosis and screening for trials and treatment more widely available and cost-effective. Encouraging gene-modifying strategies that have shown important benefits in other neurological diseases are now being tested for AD and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Many important challenges lay ahead that include expanding public-private partnerships to meet our research goals and prioritizing the training of talented young investigators to develop the necessary research work force, We will need to implement practical screening tests and access to emerging treatments on a global scale and multi-targeted discovery science and lifestyle interventions to pioneer combination treatments.