New Science Sheds Light on the Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease

He compares the first Alzheimer’s drugs to a 10-year-old shooting a soccer ball from midfield. “Now we’ve got a Division I college team driving down the field.”

Not so fast

However, Thies of the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago is cautious about the new approach to this old disease. He says it’s too soon to eliminate plaques as a drug target. The results of three clinical drug trials “will give us a better handle” on the role of plaques.

Theis says that it could take 10 to 15 years to develop a drug that targets oligomers rather than plaques. There’s a lot of work to be done before this research translates into real help for Alzheimer’s patients, he stresses.

Still, Thies acknowledges that this type of basic science is “critical” and helps move researchers closer to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

“The fact is that without adequate support for this kind of basic science, there’s no hope,” he says.

Elizabeth Agnvall is a contributing editor with the AARP Bulletin.