The Dutch press has been full of it this summer: dementia has overtaken lung cancer as the number one cause of death. Dementia is also on the up and up in Belgium. It is estimated that 350,000 Belgians suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. I expect that number to double by 2050.
I regard Alzheimer’s disease as one of the most heart-rending complaints. This disease takes a staggering toll and ruins the lives of patients and those around them. Alzheimer’s patients lose everything, their memory, freedom, relationships, and, finally, their lives. In the case of cancer, there are now scores of possible treatments, but, by contrast, Alzheimer’s disease still means a death sentence. Of the 10 major causes of death, Alzheimer’s is the only one which still has no effective treatment.
The quest for a treatment for the disease is proving difficult. There are over 100 new drugs being developed worldwide to treat Alzheimer’s disease1, but only a few new treatments have emerged over the past 15 years. We are still waiting for major breakthroughs, and there is still no drug or treatment to reduce or stop the disease.
At Janssen, we have been working for years on bapineuzumab. This candidate medication failed to pass its first major clinical study. This failure was a huge disappointment to our researchers. Despite the huge investment, their efforts were not in vain. They have taught us a lot about what might or might not work. On the basis of those studies, we can draw up new lines of approach to tackle this dreadful disorder, together with others.
I don’t know if we will ever be in a position to cure this disease. By the time we start with treatment, the brain has already suffered irreparable damage. We certainly believe that it should be possible to intervene earlier or to prevent the disease at a time when the neurodegeneration of the brain has only just started.
We can be proud of Belgian research into Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Our country is one of the world leaders in this field. I am pleased that researchers are joining forces in Belgium and at European and global level, and that research is no longer done in silos. Thanks to close cooperation between the public and private sectors, it will be possible to achieve an ambitious goal of finding an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease by 2025. In this way, we can stop the increase in the number of Alzheimer’s patients and reduce the growing pressure on healthcare. Wouldn’t that be a better future?
1http://www.phrma.org/sites/default/files/pdf/alzheimersetbacksreportfinal912.pdf