Over the last few years, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) has made significant strides with regards to advanced screening and prevention of the degenerative disorder.
Thanks to funding from philanthropists with connections to companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Estée Lauder, the organization had funded 25 medical research projects aimed at early detection and proactive treatment methods to fight Alzheimer's. And with new donors doubling the non-profit's funding, there's a better chance the medical community can get out ahead of Alzheimer's.
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Today, Alzheimer's is estimated to affect about 6 million people across America alone. The disease is detectable before side effects occur, meaning that nearly half of those living with Alzheimer's may not even know they have it. This, according to researchers, makes the work the ADDF is doing in the field even more necessary. The disease's onset can be long and slow, meaning there are opportunities for prevention and defensive measures that can improve the quality of life or patients and caretakers across the globe.
Bill Gates Advocates for ADDF's Success
The ADDF has two major goals: to increase the preventative treatment options for Alzheimer's and to make testing for the disease more affordable and accessible. Current testing methods can be incredibly expensive, and current immunotherapy treatments are aimed at slowing the progression once the disease has already become apparent.
Alzheimer's researchers are aiming to identify biomarkers that make it easier to determine which patients are predisposed to the disease. Since its founding, the ADDF has seen progress in researching qualities that may indicate trouble with Alzheimer's in the future.
Bill Gates has spoken at great length about why the organization's Diagnostic Accelerator is the future of Alzheimer's treatment and prevention. Gates actually lost his own father to the disease in 2020, so he's intimately familiar with the effects it can have on a family. The Microsoft magnate believes that the ADDF is on the cutting-edge when it comes to identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer's.
Researchers, funded by the organization, are pursuing testing in a variety of different formats, like easy and affordable run-of-the-mill blood tests. Meanwhile, researchers in Seattle are using artificial intelligence to perform those eye exams geared toward revealing Alzheimer's predisposition in the brain. Gates says that these medical advancements could even lead to apps designed to screen for abnormalities, making access to Alzheimer's prevention easier and more convenient than ever.
NFL Players, Biogen Join the Fight
The largest movers and shakers funding the ADDF include Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and co-heir to Estée Lauder fortune Leonard A. Lauder. Over the last five years, the foundation has seen several medical advancements like the ones Gates mentioned above.
Other initial funders to the charity include MacKenzie Scott, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Thanks to the donations of new organizations including the NFL Players Association, Biogen (BIIB), the Shanahan Family Foundation, and more, the ADDF doubled its donations from $50M to a very impressive $100M. And these philanthropists can only see more exciting discoveries on the horizon. Managing Director of the Health & Life Sciences Division at Gates Ventures Niranjan Bose laid out the progress the foundation has made already -- and why researchers are only just getting started
“Four years ago, we launched the Diagnostics Accelerator with the ADDF to accelerate new research to find a simple yet reliable test to diagnose Alzheimer’s early in its progression. Thanks to the work of the funded researchers, there are now dozens of new biomarkers in the pipeline, which are critical to advancing new therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and helping us better understand this disease.”
