The mind-fraying menace of Alzheimer’s disease unravels memory and cognitive ability. It’s the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and—with no effective treatment—a medical dead end.
Dr. Stephen Salloway, associate director of Brown’s new Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, has been searching for a path forward for more than 30 years. Recently, he and his colleagues received an infusion of funding for their work: an anonymous donor gave Brown $25 million dollars to found the center, announced in April. Under the initial direction of Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute of Brain Science Director Diane Lipscombe, the center will create opportunities for collaboration between the Carney Institute and the Warren Alpert Medical School.
The news of the new center was quickly overshadowed by a firestorm over a new Alzheimer’s drug for which Salloway led the clinical trials. On June 7, the FDA approved aducanumab, the first new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in two decades. Eleven of the 12 members of an FDA Scientific Advisory Panel voted against approval, as many patients did not improve. When the FDA approved it anyway, three panel members resigned.
Nobody claims aducanumab is a silver bullet. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body, and it’s wishful thinking to believe that flipping a single switch would be the difference. If aducanumab is part of the future of AD treatment, it’s almost certainly as part of a cocktail. But the desire for progress is desperate. BAM hopes to return to the story of aducanumab after its obstacle course has run. In the meantime, Salloway and his colleagues are hard at work building the armamentarium. “I really believe this kicks off a new era in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” Salloway says.