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In the year just past, Alzheimer’s researchers, families, and stakeholders felt renewed hope that new treatments might be within grasp. While the Lazarus story of aducanumab may or may not be enough for FDA approval this year, data from its Phase 3 program solidified a broader signal across four different anti-amyloid antibodies that amyloid can be removed from the brain and that maybe—just maybe—this will also benefit cognition and function if given early at a sufficient dose. The prospect that the amyloid hypothesis is druggable, alone, was enough to re-energize the field. The hope that further trials to define the best doses, patient groups, and treatment regimens will eventually pay off was cause for even more enthusiasm.
In a year when the US Congress boosted dementia research funding to $2.8 billion and the UK Government has pledged to put an extra £83m a year into dementia research over the next decade, there is renewed hope!
This post from the Alz Forum discusses how that funding might get spent in the year and years ahead:
https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/2019-year-hope-alzheimers-research
