The French American Chamber of Commerce and the German American Business Association partnered to organize and host a panel discussion focused on “Promising Trends in Alzheimer’s Treatment”.

Held on March 10^th, the evening allowed those in attendance to assess the latest discoveries in Alzheimer’s disease treatment and to raise awareness of one of the world’s most widespread illnesses. As the costliest disease in the developed world, and one of the most difficult for caregivers to handle, there is clearly much that doctors must understand.

Dr. Bob Fremeau, Ph. D., Scientific Director in the Department of Neuroscience at Amgen, introduced us to the problems that pharmaceutical companies are facing for Alzheimer disease drug discovery and difficulties for clinical trials. Dr. Fremeau believes that Amyloid plaques, which are sticky buildup that accumulates outside neurons in the brain, are one of the major causes of Alzheimer’s disease. While he said that it is unlikely that the disease has a single cause, he stressed the need for better understanding of the Amyloid production mechanisms.  Indeed, this is one of the focuses of Amgen researchers’ work, successfully identifying the pathways triggering Amyloid production and inhibition of the beta amyloid formation.

Dr. Dale E. Bredesen, M.D., founder and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, shared his perspective about the disease. While he explained a number of different theories to explain Alzheimer’s mechanisms, he presented us with his original approach. Linking Alzheimer disease to cancer and other prionic diseases (rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders such as “the mad cow”), Dr. Bredesen referred to Alzheimer’s as an adult development disorder characterized by an imbalance and a loss of control of cell proliferation and migration. Following this analysis, he is focusing on maintaining trophic and anti-trophic balance between synaptic elements and dependence receptors that, he argues, play a great part in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. William F. Goure, Ph. D., President and CEO of Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., insisted on the rediscovery of the Amyloid cascade hypothesis. Arguing that soluble Aβ (the Oligomers) are playing  important role on Alzheimer’s disease. While the first therapeutic trials on soluble Amyloids are just beginning, he asserted that researchers should concentrate more on the understanding of molecular biology. Since Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases are caused by multiple factors, they are unlikely to be cured by focusing on only one of their biological manifestations. Dr. Goure presented the audience with different paths to vary treatments for Alzheimer pathology, and concluded by stressing stronger cooperation among different research institutes seeking a cure to Alzheimer’s disease.

Our panelists’ presentations sparked a lively discussion between the audience and the speakers, highlighting the need for better public awareness and continuous efforts to tackle this disease.

We thank all of our panelists, hosts, and attendees for their participation.