Better Biomarkers for AD R&D

Alzheimer’s disease has been a minefield for recent drug development, marked by a series of clinical trials whose failures suggest that therapeutic interventions will need to be directed earlier in the disease process. How much earlier? Well, before the onset of dementia – in fact, ideally before any symptoms manifest at all. Complicating the search for drugs to treat the disease is the fact that, in most instances, the symptomatic decline in affected individuals is slow. For a clinical trial to show a definite effect on cognition, it may need to run for many years. At this point, though, such clinical trials are some way in the future. First, to identify and ultimately treat the disease at a pre-symptomatic stage, we need valid biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. Biomarkers are critical to stratifying and monitoring patients for clinical trials in drug development. Then, once treatments are available, biomarkers are needed to screen patients and confirm diagnoses in the clinic – and also to properly direct the use of drugs and track responses to therapy.