We are a grassroots campaign focused on advocating for therapeutic development to cure dementia. Alzheimer's research is hindered by the disease's intricate nature, with multiple competing hypotheses attempting to explain its underlying mechanisms, making it challenging to identify the most effective therapeutic targets. The poor efficacy of current treatments largely stems from an incomplete understanding of the disease's true causes, as many clinical trials have focused on single pathways (such as amyloid-β and tau hypothesis) that have proven to not be the primary drivers of cognitive decline. Furthermore, the slow progression of Alzheimer's disease and the difficulty in accurately diagnosing it at early stages complicate the evaluation of potential treatments, often requiring lengthy and costly clinical trials to demonstrate meaningful results.
From 1995-2023, over US$58 billion has been spent on Alzheimer's research. Unfortunately to date no high efficacy drugs have been brought to market. Despite the failures, the research focused on neuroinflammation is rapidly gaining scientific recognition and is extremely positive. This discovery not only enhances our understanding of neuroimmune interactions but also opens up new possibilities for therapeutic interventions in inflammatory conditions. The latest article in Nature magazine on neuroinflammation posits a groundbreaking body-brain circuit that regulates inflammatory responses, demonstrating how pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines communicate with distinct populations of vagal neurons to inform the brain of emerging inflammation, and how the brain in turn tightly modulates the peripheral immune response 3
Our current focus is on the new neuroinflammation therapeutics, specifically Xpro1595 being developed by a US base biotech company InmuneBio. XPro1595 is an investigational therapeutic designed to selectively target and neutralize soluble tumor necrosis factor (sTNF), a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Phase 1 results were incredible. Out of 9 participants, 5 showed stabilization of disease, 1 minor improvement and 2 had meaningful improvement. One of the participants improvement was so dramatic he returned to work, having been previously forced into early retirement.
Results for the Phase 2 trial of 208 patients are due in June 2025; expectations are very high. Unfortunately, even with extraordinary results, the drug would not become available until 2029-2030. Considering the first patient was cured in 2020, we find it unconscionable that a further 120,000-140,000 Australians with suffer and die before treatment is widely available.
Although critical for safe drug access, the current development process is broken. Government intervention is needed to fast track Xpro1595. Project Warp Speed is campaigning the government to develop a public-private partnership so that the day positive phase 2 are released, a Phase 3 trial is funded and ready to enroll patients to end this horrible disease.