World Alzheimer’s Day

First published Sept 21, 2023, updated Sept 20, 2024.

September 21^st marks World Alzheimer’s Day, an effort to bring more attention to the devastating disease that affects patients, families, and their caregivers. Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease affecting nearly 7 million people in the United States alone. In 2021, it was the fifth-leading cause of death among people 65-years and older. It is estimated that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias will cost $360 billion in medical care in 2024 and twenty US states have too few neurologists to serve the population¹.

Extracellular amyloid plaques, caused by the Amyloid β-Protein, and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles are hallmark features of the disease. The buildup of plaques in the brain from Amyloid β-Protein, most notably peptide fragment Aβ 1-42, cause inflammation and neurodegeneration. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior².

While a tough disease to treat, there have been recent approvals for treating Alzheimer’s disease including donanemab (Kisunla™) and benzgalantamine (ZUNVEYL®) in 2024, lecanemab (Leqembi^®) in 2023, and aducanumab (Aduhelm^®) in 2021 that provide some benefit. However, Aduhelm^® will be discontinued in November 2024 as Biogen shifts focus^2,3,6.

There are 127 drugs in clinical development, many of which aim to prevent disease, delay onset, slow progression, or improve symptoms⁸. Diagnostics aimed at earlier identification of the disease are also in development, including some that identify early biomarkers of the disease or others that include imaging^4,5.

A few promising peptides and peptide-based approaches being investigated for Alzheimer’s disease treatment:

PHDP5: This synthetic peptide has shown promise in reversing cognitive decline in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. It works by inhibiting a pathway that leads to tau protein buildup and was able to restore memory and learning functions in transgenic mice^7,9.
ACI-24: A peptide Aß Vaccine-Candidate that induces immunity against a key driver of Alzheimer’s Disease¹⁰.
ALZ-101: Designed to induce a humoral antibody response capable of reaching the oligomer toxins in the brain, thereby protecting brain synapses from Aβ-induced damage¹¹.
GM6: A hexapeptide that offers neuroprotection by increasing neuron survival¹².
Cogpep: Apolipoprotein E3 (apoE3) analog designed to offer protection from apoE3 dysfunction¹³.
COG1410: An ApoE-mimetic peptide with potent anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities¹⁴.
PRI002 (contraloid): A peptide comprised of all D-amino acids designed to interfere with oligomerization of Aβ 1-42¹⁵.

References

Additional reading:

Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: What Do We Know?

Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2024

Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2023

Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline: 2022

A new peptide may hold potential as an Alzheimer’s treatment

Peptides as Potential Therapeutics for Alzheimer’s Disease

The Alzheimer’s disease drug development landscape

Q&A: How a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease could also work for Type 2 diabetes

DONANEMAB^TM is a trademark owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company, LEQEMBI^® is a registered trademark of Eisai R&D Management Co., Ltd. ADUHELM^®is a registered trademark of Biogen. ZUNVEYL® is a registered trademark of Alpha Cognition Inc.