Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain condition that gradually deteriorates a person's memory and cognitive functions. In its later stages, the disorder significantly limits a person's ability to do fundamental everyday tasks.
A study found that there are an estimated 55 million dementia patients worldwide, a figure that is expected to rise as the world's population ages.
Additionally, there will be more than 150 million cases worldwide by 2050. Amid extensive research, the disorder is yet to find a cure.
Is the UK nearing a cure for Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer's Research UK exec, Hilary Evans, has said that today's generation of elderly people may be the last to face untreatable Alzheimer's disease, The Guardian reports.
As co-chair of the UK government's new dementia mission, she stated that the UK is on the cusp of a new era of dementia treatments in which Alzheimer's disease would no longer be regarded as an inevitable consequence of aging.
She went on to say that the NHS needs to be overhauled so patients can access the first effective Alzheimer's medications, which might be authorized in the UK as early as next year.
Evans claims that for those in their mid-to late-70s and 80s, it may be too late for these treatments to be effective, but for those in their 60s, there will be a significant shift from where they are now in terms of medications.
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She projected that for those in their 40s, diagnostic blood tests paired with AI insights from mobile phone data would result in substantially earlier diagnosis, and medications or vaccines meant to prevent neurodegenerative conditions would become increasingly successful.
UK Aims to Accelerate Dementia Research
A recent press release informs us that the UK government's national dementia initiative, co-chaired by Evans and Nadeem Sarwar, a senior executive of Eisai, aims to accelerate dementia research by drawing lessons from the Covid vaccination taskforce and includes a commitment to double dementia research funding to £160 million per year by 2024-2025.
The mission comes on the heels of last year's groundbreaking trial results, which revealed that lecanemab, produced by Eisai and Biogen, was the first medicine to slow cognitive deterioration in early-stage Alzheimer's patients.
In related news, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a new Alzheimer's disease treatment in January. Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb) is the second treatment in a new class of Alzheimer's disease medications that address the illness's core pathogenesis.
Is Treatment Ready by 2040?
According to leading Alzheimer's disease expert Professor Julie Williams from Cardiff University, a highly effective treatment for the disease is expected to be available by 2040.
With 92 genes now known to be linked to the disease, the understanding of Alzheimer's has increased exponentially in recent years.
Williams believes that the pace of research is accelerating rapidly, and more is being learned about the disease daily.
"Things are speeding up and improving all the time. I've learned more in the last seven years than I did in the previous 20," she stated.
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