WASHINGTON — For the millions of American families touched by Alzheimer’s disease, the past few years have brought something that once felt impossible: real, tangible progress. The numbers tell part of the story. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older were living with the disease in 2023.
It remains the most common cause of dementia, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder marked by the buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. But behind those statistics are people—parents, grandparents, spouses—and the researchers racing to change their futures.
A Turning Point in Treatment
In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi. Developed by Eisai and Biogen, it became the first disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s ever to receive such clearance. Clinical trials showed it slowed cognitive decline by 27% over 18 months in patients with early-stage disease.
Then, in July 2024, the FDA approved donanemab—brand name Kisunla—developed by Eli Lilly. That drug, another anti-amyloid antibody, showed a 35% slowdown in decline in a phase 3 trial called TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2, the results of which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Both drugs target the amyloid plaques that have long been a hallmark of the disease. Both require intravenous infusions. And both carry risks of a condition known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, or ARIA, which can involve brain swelling or microbleeds.
For patients and their doctors, those are serious considerations—but for many, the prospect of slowing the disease at all is a sea change. The global cost of dementia was estimated at $1.3 trillion in 2019 by the World Health Organization.
That figure underscores not just the human toll, but the economic urgency driving research forward.
What’s Next on the Horizon
Research has not stopped with these two drugs. Scientists are pursuing tau-targeting therapies, aiming at the other key protein abnormality in Alzheimer’s brains. Blood-based biomarkers are being developed that could allow for earlier detection, potentially before symptoms even appear.
And lifestyle interventions continue to be studied as a way to reduce risk or slow progression. The National Institute on Aging budget for Alzheimer’s research reached $3.7 billion in fiscal year 2024.
That level of federal investment reflects a national commitment to understanding and ultimately defeating a disease that has stolen so many memories. For families watching a loved one slip away, the arrival of disease-modifying drugs is not a cure. But it is a start.
And for researchers, the pace of discovery—from the lab to the clinic to the patient’s bedside—has never been faster. Consult your doctor for medical advice.
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