When I announced that I was investing in Alzheimer’s research
for the first time last fall, I thought I knew what to expect. I knew I
would get to engage more deeply with the brilliant scientists and
advocates working to stop Alzheimer’s—and I haven’t been disappointed.
The things I’ve seen over the last seven months make me more hopeful
than ever.
What I didn’t see coming was the amazing response I
got from the
Alzheimer’s community at large. Because my family didn’t talk publicly
about my dad’s diagnosis before the announcement, I had yet to
experience how remarkable the support community is. So many of you have
shared your personal experiences with me, both in person and online
(including here on TGN). It helps to hear from others who are going
through the same thing.
Alzheimer’s research is a frontier where we can dramatically improve
human life—both the lives of people who have the disease and their loved
ones. I’m optimistic that we can substantially alter the course of
Alzheimer’s if we make progress in several key areas. One of the biggest
things we could do right now is develop a reliable, affordable, and
accessible diagnostic.
The process of getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s today is less than
ideal. It starts with a cognitive test. If you don’t perform well, your
doctor needs to rule out all other possible causes for memory loss, like
stroke or a nutritional deficiency. Then your doctor can order a spinal
tap or PET scan
to confirm you have Alzheimer’s. Although these tests are fairly
accurate, the only way to diagnose the disease definitively is through
an autopsy after death.
There are two big problems with this process. First, it can be
expensive and invasive. Most insurance plans in the United States won’t
reimburse tests for Alzheimer’s. Patients often pay thousands of dollars
out of their own pockets. Meanwhile, spinal taps can be scary and
uncomfortable, and PET scans require the patient to stay perfectly still
for up to 40 minutes. That’s difficult for anyone to do—but especially
someone with Alzheimer’s.
Second, patients aren’t being tested for the disease until they start
showing cognitive decline. The more we understand about Alzheimer’s,
the clearer it becomes that the disease begins much earlier than we
previously thought. Research suggests Alzheimer’s starts damaging the
brain more than a decade before symptoms start showing. That’s probably
when we need to start treating people to have the best shot at an
effective drug.
This delay is a huge problem in the quest for a scientific
breakthrough. It’s currently so difficult to find enough eligible
patients for a clinical trial that it can take longer to enroll
participants than to conduct the study. We need a better way of
diagnosing Alzheimer’s—like a simple blood test or eye exam—before we’re
able to slow the progression of the disease.
It’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem. It’s hard to come up with a
game changing new drug without a cheaper and less invasive way to
diagnose patients earlier. But most people don’t want to find out if
they have the disease earlier when there’s no way to treat it. The
commercial market for Alzheimer’s diagnostics simply isn’t there.
There’s promising research being done, but very few companies are
looking at how to turn that research into a usable product.
That’s why my next investment in Alzheimer’s research is in a new
fund called Diagnostics Accelerator. This project of the Alzheimer’s
Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) aims to accelerate bold new ideas for
earlier and better diagnosis of the disease. Today I’m joining Leonard
Lauder, ADDF, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation,
and other donors in committing more than $30 million to help launch Diagnostics Accelerator.
Diagnostics Accelerator is a venture philanthropy vehicle, which
means it’s different from most funds. Investments from governments or
charitable organizations are fantastic at generating new ideas and
cutting-edge research—but they’re not always great at creating usable
products, since no one stands to make a profit at the end of the day.
Venture capital, on the other end of the spectrum, is more likely to
develop a test that will actually reach patients, but its financial
model favors projects that will earn big returns for investors.
Venture philanthropy splits the difference. It incentivizes a bold,
risk-taking approach to research with an end goal of a real product for
real patients. If any of the projects backed by Diagnostics Accelerator
succeed, our share of the financial windfall goes right back into the
fund.
My hope is that this investment builds a bridge from academic
research to a reliable, affordable, and accessible diagnostic. I expect
to see lots of new players come to the table, who have innovative new
ideas but might not have previously had the resources to explore them.
If you think you’re one of these bold thinkers, we want to hear your
great ideas. I encourage you to apply for funding on the new Diagnostics
Accelerator website here.
Imagine a world where diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is as simple as getting your blood tested during your annual physical. Research suggests that future isn’t that far off, and Diagnostics Accelerator moves us one step closer.
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