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It is a devastating disease that causes an epidemic of dementia and destroys tens of millions of lives, but without any new medical treatment since the beginning of the century, the fight against Alzheimer's disease is disappearing .
Despite decades of research and hundreds of millions of dollars, the precise cause of neurodegenerative disease – leaving victims with memory loss, disorientation, and behavioral problems – remains poorly understood.
"It's a bit like solving a puzzle without knowing what the end result should look like," said Pierre Tariot, director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.
This year alone, pharmaceutical giants – including Lundbeck, Takeda, Merck & Co, Janssen Biotech, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly – have stopped or failed in their search for a new drug against Alzheimer's disease.
The US drug giant Pfizer said in January that it was abandoning all research on the disease.
The problem, according to Marie Sarazin, director of neurology at the Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, is that scientific research has followed "the same track" for decades.
After trials of mice focused on diseased neurons in the brain seemed to produce a breakthrough in the early 2000s, many companies "thought that they were going to hit the jackpot," said Sarazin.
But follow-up research has so far not led to a new medical treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Indeed, the long-standing hypothesis on the causes of the disease is being reconsidered.
– Astronomical cost –
Alzheimer's disease occurs when neurons in the brain lose their ability to communicate with each other, causing patients to have difficulty remembering names and places, orienting or interacting with them. their relatives.
Globally, about seven percent of people over the age of 65 suffer from the disease or some form of dementia, a percentage that reaches 40% over the age of 85. years.
The number of people affected is expected to triple by 2050 to 152 million, according to the World Health Organization, posing a huge challenge for health systems.
Alzheimer 's disease cost about 818 billion dollars (700 billion euros) in 2015, about 1% of global GDP, and is expected to double by 2030.
Friday is World Alzheimer's Day, an event launched in 2012 to raise awareness of the disease.
This year, the promise of a breakthrough is promising: a joint US-Japan clinical trial on an antibody designed to degrade proteins that may hinder neuroactivity has significantly helped the brain function of the test subjects.
On Wednesday, a team of US scientists said it had eliminated the dead but toxic cells found naturally in the brains of mice, designed to mimic Alzheimer's disease and slow down the neuronal damage and memory loss associated with the disease.
But with developed countries facing the health challenges posed by the aging of the population, many experts agree that more attention needs to be paid to prevention and cure.
Exercising, drinking less alcohol and adopting a balanced diet have all shown a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
"It seems that, as in any other neurodegenerative disease, the solution is to prevent as early as possible the signs and symptoms of the pathology," said Danny Bar-Zohar, global head of neuroscience development, AFP.
© 2018 AFP
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