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Editorial| Volume 19, ISSUE 7, P557-559, July 2018

The Unmet Promise of a Miracle Drug for Alzheimer's Disease: Implications for Practice, Policy, and Research

  • Philip D. Sloane
    Correspondence
    Address correspondence to Philip D. Sloane, MD, MPH, or Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
    Affiliations
    Department of Family Medicine and Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

    Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
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  • Sheryl Zimmerman
    Affiliations
    Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

    School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    Search for articles by this author
  • Malaz Boustani
    Affiliations
    Indiana Clinical Translational Science Institute, Center for Aging Research, and Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN

    Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN
    Search for articles by this author
      Sixteen years ago, we published an analytical model that projected the impact of a breakthrough drug for Alzheimer's disease.
      • Sloane P.D.
      • Zimmerman S.
      • Suchindran C.
      • et al.
      The public health impact of Alzheimer's disease, 2000–2050: Potential implication of treatment advances.
      At that time, the enzyme that cleaves amyloid precursor protein had recently been identified,
      • Vassar R.
      • Bennett B.D.
      • Babu-Khan S.
      • et al.
      Beta-secretase cleavage of Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein by the transmembrane aspartic protease BACE.
      and it seemed reasonable to assume that a more effective treatment was on the near horizon.
      • Vassar R.
      The beta-secretase, BACE: A prime drug target for Alzheimer's disease.
      • Schimmöller F.
      • Higaki J.N.
      • Cordell B.
      Amyloid forming proteases: Therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease.
      • Hendriksen J.V.
      • Nottet H.S.
      • Smits H.A.
      Secretases as targets for drug design in Alzheimer's disease.
      We modeled 2 scenarios: one in which the breakthrough drug delayed disease onset and the other in which the new drug slowed disease progression.
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