The last several years have marked a time of breakthroughs on the long and rocky road to effective Alzheimer’s disease treatments. After decades of failure, two antibodies designed to target forms of amyloid-β (Aβ) were shown to halt cognitive decline, results warranting FDA approval. However, these new treatments have drawbacks—they are expensive, have complicated infusion schedules, and come with a risk of adverse reactions like brain swelling and bleeding (ARIA), especially prevalent in people with the APOE4 gene variant associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

Earlier this week, a small biotech company called Alzheon, situated in Framingham, Massachusetts, demonstrated data that has the potential to change the way Alzheimer’s is treated, especially for APOE4/4 homozygotes. In

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