The End of the Beginning of the Alzheimer’s Disease Nightmare: A Devil’s Advocate’s View

Abstract

Although there have been so many failures in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) modifying trials, there are still many compounds in the pipeline and the hope still remains that the entrance of disease-modifying treatment (DMT) for AD will positively and dramatically change the whole situation of AD treatment. However, if DMT does enter the market, it will be the beginning of a great number of challenges and problems. The current infrastructure for diagnostics of early (pre-dementia) AD does not have the capacity to meet the demands and expectations of the population. Neither is there capacity for treatment monitoring and follow-ups. If screening is considered, there will be a great risk for false positive cases and a great number of people who will have to undergo diagnostics. There will be high costs for diagnostics and treatment initially, while potential benefits will occur much later in other sectors than where the payers for treatment are. Although there are great hopes that prevention of cardiovascular risk factors and changes in lifestyle might impact the risk for dementia, there is still no consensus that this is the case. Finally, the relevance of different AD paradigms such as amyloid and tau is still a matter of discussion, particularly regarding the oldest old.