The dementia landscape project was launched by the World Dementia Council (WDC) in 2021, aiming to review international progress towards the 2025 goals identified at the 2013 G8 dementia summit. As part of this project, the WDC is hosting a series of global dialogues with members of the international dementia community, reflecting on where we have come from, where we are now, and what the next steps should be. On 21 October, WDC held a global dialogue on non-amyloid targets for disease modification, where attendees discussed future approaches to the development of disease modifying treatments as part of the dementia landscape project. Attending by over 60 international experts in the field, the global dialogue was chaired by Dr Maria Carrillo, chief science officer, Alzheimer's Association, and Professor Philip Scheltens, professor of cognitive neurology and director, Alzheimer Center, Amsterdam University Medical Centers.
The meeting was kicked off by Lenny Shallcross, the WDC executive director. Then, Dr Laurie Ryan (Chief of the Clinical Interventions and Diagnostics Branch in the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the NIH) presented a couple of slides on the NIA translational Alzheimer’s disease research program and the ongoing preclinical drug development. She highlighted that the majority of projects/trials are looking at non-amyloid targets. Following Laurie’s presentation, Professor Malú Tansey (Norman and Susan Fixel Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology, Co-Director Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease and the Parkinson’s Foundation Research Center) outlined the partnership of NIA with private organisations for Alzheimer’s disease research and the NIH portfolio of non-amyloid targets. She also mentioned the recent publication of a roadmap article in the journal Nature review neurology including a research prospectus for advancing our understanding of peripheral-central immune crosstalk in Alzheimer’s disease, next steps needed to overcome conceptual and methodological challenges, opportunities for future interdisciplinary research, and suggestions for translating promising mechanistic studies into therapeutic interventions.
The two brief presentations were followed by an hour of lively discussion, moderated by Dr Maria Carrillo, with comments from high-profile researchers, clinicians, data scientists and patient organisations and industry representatives. A transcript of the data sharing global dialogue will be found on the WDC website. AE Project Officer Cindy Birck attended the WDC dialogue.
https://worlddementiacouncil.org/DLP/global-dialogues/non-amyloid-targets
