AARP-Backed Investment Fund Aims for Breakthrough Dementia Drugs

New approaches, new tools

Dementias vary, but they all are irreversible, progressive brain disorders that destroy memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to perform simple tasks. Experts believe that most Alzheimer’s cases develop from multiple factors, like other chronic diseases. The greatest risk factor is age; most people with late-onset Alzheimer’s dementia are 65 or older.

In the U.S. an estimated 5.8 million people have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. That number is expected to more than double by 2050, to 13.8 million people, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Supported by the DDF, companies are homing in on various kinds of dementias, isolating subsets of patients with unique symptoms and biology, in hopes of developing more targeted treatments. At the same time, engineers are developing new diagnostic tools that use computational and artificial intelligence to detect and measure changes in brain function in areas such as speech, gait and retinal behavior.

“If you can detect changes in the rate of cognitive decay,” Grant says, “we hope to detect a reduction in the rate of cognitive decay in a controlled clinical study.”

With a Ph.D. in anatomy and immunology, Grant spent his early career focused on fighting cancer using immunotherapy, which is now much more common. He wants to help replicate the explosion in cancer treatments for dementia.

So does Rosenthal, whose company, Alector, went public in February. He cofounded it in 2013, a time when “there was very little reception for new therapeutic strategies” to combat dementia, despite dozens of failed clinical trials of drugs targeting the proteins known as amyloid and tau, which cause brain plaque and tangles.

Alector now has three clinical drug trials underway — two for Alzheimer’s and a third to treat a specific group of patients with frontotemporal dementia, which are uncommon disorders that mostly affect the front and sides of the brain.

Another company receiving DDF funds is also conducting clinical trials. Cerevance, a private firm based in Boston and the U.K., is leading a trial of an oral compound for Parkinson’s disease. The DDF has invested in 18 companies and projects so far.

Grant, whose 86-year-old father has Parkinson’s disease and dementia, is encouraged by the progress. “I’m naturally optimistic that we will be able to detect signs of cognitive impairment early,” he says. “And if we’re successful over the years and develop medications the patient can take once a day, and delay the onset of the symptoms, that’s going to be a great day.”

An AARP commitment

The Dementia Discovery Fund’s backers hope that the companies it helps bankroll will grow and attract other investors, multiplying its social impact investment. The fund already has allocated about half of its capital and expects to complete its investments in 2021. It is slated to be dissolved in 2030, selling off remaining investments and distributing proceeds to partners.

Those high-profile partners include philanthropist Bill Gates, who announced his $50 million investment in 2017 and disclosed then that his 93-year-old father has Alzheimer’s. The British government, Alzheimer’s Research UK, the NFL Players Association and seven major drug companies — Astex, Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Pfizer and Takeda — have invested in the fund, too.

AARP’s $60 million investment reflects the priorities of its nearly 38 million members, according to Frisch. Americans age 50-plus cite brain health as a top concern. “We’re proud to be helping lead the change by funding innovative research into unlocking the mysteries of Alzheimer’s and dementia,” he says. 

Adds Sarah Lock, AARP’s senior vice president for policy and brain health: “We understand how challenging it is, not only for the person with dementia but for their families.”

Lock lost her 87-year-old father in 2009, after he suffered from Lewy body dementia and the hallucinations it triggered. Her mother showed signs of dementia before dying, at age 91, in 2014.

The experiences gave Lock an understanding of dementia’s toll on patients and loved ones alike. “With all of these bright minds and all of this goodwill and the fervor of advocates, I know it’s like sending somebody to the moon,” she says. “It’s only a matter of time.”