A new idea in Alzheimer’s
Earlier this year, scientists at Washington University ferreted out a genetic mutation that seemed to protect people from developing Alzheimer’s disease. What if there were a drug, they wondered, that could replicate that effect in patients at risk?
Alector, an early-stage biotech company, believes it may have found such a thing. The company’s latest drug candidate, AL014, is designed to mimic the beneficial effects of that variant, which is called MS4A4A. The idea is to empower immune cells called microglia, which clear the brain of unwanted toxins and, in theory, can be harnessed to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.
It’s early days for AL014. Next year, Alector plans to begin the preclinical studies that would enable later human trials. But the drug, and the MS4A4A target, are among the small but growing number of new ideas in Alzheimer’s research, which has for years focused on beta-amyloid plaques with, to be kind, disappointing results.
Alector, an early-stage biotech company, believes it may have found such a thing. The company’s latest drug candidate, AL014, is designed to mimic the beneficial effects of that variant, which is called MS4A4A. The idea is to empower immune cells called microglia, which clear the brain of unwanted toxins and, in theory, can be harnessed to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.
It’s early days for AL014. Next year, Alector plans to begin the preclinical studies that would enable later human trials. But the drug, and the MS4A4A target, are among the small but growing number of new ideas in Alzheimer’s research, which has for years focused on beta-amyloid plaques with, to be kind, disappointing results.
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