For years, amongst my funding colleagues and in scientific settings I have questioned whether we needed a serious re-think about the Alzheimer Disease research dogma. Certain things about the amyloid hypothesis and the clinical disease just do not add up — and to my mind AD has become the classic example of the MODEL of the disease becoming the focus of research, in place of the actual disease. I also have long believed that once a system is tipped too far it can not recover. Recent news about AD drug discover is supporting these contentions. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/business/18lilly.html
The time has come for philanthropic organizations with an interest in neurological disease to start challenging the status quo.
No agendas, only honest talk at the intersection of science and society.