Over the course of five years, the studies were carried out on healthy participants who were guaranteed to develop Alzheimer’s disease aiming to prevent the ailment before the onset of symptoms. Unfortunately, they have begun their ill-fated cognitive decline, crushing the hopes of the pharmaceutical industry for the near future.

The trials were sponsored by Washington University in St. Louis, two companies that produced the drugs (Roche and Eli Lilly), the National Institutes of Health and other benefactors. According to Dr. Randall Bateman, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis and the study’s principal investigator, the verdict of the study “was really crushing.”

The disease follows an observed course: amyloid accumulates in the brain, causing a tangled protein, tau, to form hard plaques. The result is mass neuron death, causing dementia symptoms.

The study, known as DIAN-TU, involved 194 participants carrying gene mutations that would eventually lead to an overproduction of amyloid, thus causing Alzheimer’s disease. As these participants were years younger than usual dementia patients and presented no symptoms, success in the trial would confirm the existence of a cure to Alzheimer’s.

The National Institute on Aging has granted even more research funds for another study on genetic mutations. Anti-amyloid drugs would be administered earlier this time, up to decades before the onset of symptoms. Many targets beyond amyloid would also receive drug trials.

In the past, there have already been over 300 failed drug trials aimed at curing Alzheimer’s. There exist only four treatments that attempt to alleviate the onset of symptoms, but none to prevent the inevitable fate of Alzheimer’s patients. “We don’t have anything now to treat these people,” said Dr. Bateman. 

“Life is an error-making and error-correcting process,” said Dr. Jonas Salk, the researcher celebrated for creating the first polio vaccine. With every new round of studies comes a renewed hope for the future of medical research.