Will We Be Able To Conquer Alzheimer’s?

As a company we have chosen to target devastating diseases that rob people of their lives. Alzheimer’s disease is taking an increasingly heavy toll on the lives of individuals and society as a whole. More than 46 million people worldwide live with dementia, and this number is expected to increase to 130 million by 2050.1 Globally, the annual costs of dementia are rising at a staggering pace.¹ Alzheimer’s disease basically robs people of their humanity and doesn’t allow our loved ones to age gracefully.

In the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, new treatments are being developed that could have a dramatic impact on Alzheimer’s and other devastating diseases. We’re at a time in the neurosciences where we can really make transformational differences. Recent advances have been made in finding new biomarkers, improving imaging and diagnostic technologies that have bettered our understanding of the disease. Janssen has a robust Alzheimer’s disease research program, with a pipeline focused on underlying hallmarks of the illness – amyloid plaques, tau tangles, and synaptic loss in the brain – as well as on ways to slow disease progression. We are working on disease-modifying treatments that target the underlying pathology, and hopefully slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s.

The company’s vision is to intervene in the early stages of disease, and ultimately develop preventive therapies. This way we can have a positive impact on patients’ lives. The scientific advances have been staggering. But, we mustn’t underestimate the magnitude of the challenge and just how much research is going to be needed. We are optimistic about future treatments for Alzheimer’s and are working hard to tackle the disease. But it will take massive collaboration and major investment from industry, academia and governments to conquer the illness in our lifetime.

¹Alzheimer’s Disease International, World Alzheimer Report 2015, The Global Impact of Dementia