CURE MAGA JAN26 DOUBLE PG-LINKS - Flipbook - Page 8
Things are much better than they
were of course. We used to say there
was one dementia researcher for
every six in cancer; now it’s closer
to one for every four. The gap’s
definitely narrowing. But to truly
speed things up, we need more
people and more funding.
Q. People hear a lot about new
drugs like lecanemab and
donanemab. What do you see
as the next steps for treatment?
A. Those drugs have been
important because they show
that targeting amyloid, one of the
hallmark proteins in Alzheimer’s, can
have an effect. And it proves findings
from dementia research can be
turned into something very real.
But these are only the first drugs.
They only work at the very earliest
stage of disease and they come
with side effects. So one next step
will be finding different ways to hit
the same pathway – of removing
amyloid – that might be safer and
more effective.
I’m also excited about treatments
aimed at tau, another key protein
in dementia. Because it might offer
us a wider ‘treatment window‘ –
meaning it could help people at
early stages of disease, but later
stages too.
I don’t think there will be one ’magic
bullet.’ It will be more like cancer
08
treatment is today – different drugs,
given in combinations, depending on
the stage of disease you’re at.
Q. Does progress in Alzheimer’s
research help with other forms of
dementia too?
A. Definitely. Almost every type of
dementia involves the build-up of
abnormal proteins in the brain, even
if the proteins are different. So what
we learn in one disease often applies
to another.
Tau’s a great example. It’s not only
involved in Alzheimer’s, but also in
frontotemporal dementia. So a
successful tau treatment could help
people with both diseases.
Q. What else do you feel
hopeful about?
A. You know what’s great? When
friends or families ask me about a
loved one’s diagnosis, my answer
keeps improving. For years I had
to say, “there isn’t really anything.”
Now I can say, “treatments are
definitely coming.” In the future,
I want to be able to say, “Here are
your options – this is what we can
do, for you, right now.”
It feels really good to be on that
trajectory. But there are other things
I hope for too. I’d love to see my
students set up their own labs to
build an even stronger research
community. And I hope the gap with
cancer research keeps narrowing.
