Big Pharma has spent tens of millions of dollars searching for a drug to halt Alzheimer’s, and the huge dollars spent greatly influenced the direction of research into treatments. However, 99 percent of these drugs have flopped miserably in clinical trials.
But an entirely other story was quietly emerging from longitudinal population studies that shed light on what may be a better way to slow or halt the progression of the disease: aggressively treating the underlying risks factors for Alzheimer’s, such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic stress, poor health habits, exposure to infectious agents or environmental toxins, can slow the disease’s progression.
And there were numerous studies – news of which had been eclipsed by the dominance of drug company sponsored research – that confirmed this. As a consequence, a handful of physicians at top academic centers, such as UCLA, Weill Cornell and the University of Alabama, were experimenting with prescribing strict lifestyle regimens to patients in early stages of the disease and were coming up with positive results.