As life expectancies increase and a greater portion of our society lives in old age, the search for solutions to dementia are taking on a new urgency as families and the health care system cope with the emotional and financial toll of millions of cognitively-impaired Americans.
On Sunday, the CBS new program "60 Minutes" put a spotlight on the researchers who are seeking ways to prevent the onset of the Alzheimer's, which afflicts roughly 1 percent of people by age 60 and nearly 40 percent of those who reach 85, according to one expert interviewed for the segment.
"Alzheimer's disease has been called out by the World Health Organization as the coming pandemic of the West. We have to do something to put it behind us," explains Dr. Pierre Tariot of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix in the interview with CBS.
Recommended For You
Hopes for a cure were dealt another disappointment last week when a large-scale trial of an experimental medication developed by Eli Lilly to slow the progress of dementia failed to show any benefit. Researchers believed the drug, solanezumab, had shown signs of success in earlier, smaller trials.
"The results of the solanezumab … trial were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease," says Lilly CEO Dr. John Lechleiter in a statement. "We will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimer's pipeline assets."
The drug's failure also highlights a growing debate in the medical community over what actually causes Alzheimer's. Solanezumab was designed based on the thinking that the buildup of amyloid plaque is the source of the condition. Many doctors believe there is more than one factor that leads to the deterioration of the brain, however.
In addition, many believe that the drug's failure suggests that the solution to Alzheimer's may lie in prevention, rather than treatment. Whatever the cause of the disease, the impact on the brain may already be irreversible by the time a patient begins exhibiting symptoms.
Samuel Gandy, an Alzheimer's researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York explains to The New York Times: "Once you see amyloid on a scan, it's probably been there for decades. I'm worried and have been worried that that's just too late," he said. "I think it has a better chance of working much earlier."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
