Seizing the Moment: A Global Call to Action Against Alzheimer’s with George Vradenburg

As the world grapples with the growing challenge of Alzheimer’s disease, September stands as an important time for reflection and action. Marked by both Healthy Aging Month and World Alzheimer’s Month, this period calls on us all to unite in the fight against a condition that affects millions globally. With World Alzheimer’s Day on the 21st, the urgency to address this escalating crisis has never been clearer.

In this timely conversation, we speak with George Vradenburg, a passionate advocate and leader in the global effort to combat Alzheimer’s. Driven by personal loss and a relentless determination, Vradenburg shares his perspectives on the current landscape of Alzheimer’s, the breakthroughs that offer hope, and the critical need for global collaboration. He emphasizes that now, more than ever, we must seize the moment—not just to raise awareness, but to drive meaningful action against this devastating disease.

George, as September marks both Healthy Aging Month and World Alzheimer's Month, culminating in World Alzheimer's Day on the 21st, it’s clear that there’s a lot happening in your field. The theme for World Alzheimer’s Month is “Time to Act on Dementia, Time to Act on Alzheimer’s.” Can you shed some light on this urgent call to action?

George Vradenburg: As you know, the prevalence of Alzheimer's is rapidly increasing as the world's population ages. Currently, over 50 million families are affected by this disease, and projections indicate that this number will triple to over 150 million by mid-century. This means that by 2050, not only will 150 million people have dementia, but their caregivers—who are deeply affected emotionally and financially—will also be at increased risk for earlier death due to the burdens of caregiving. This could impact 450 million people directly.

And when you consider those who have the underlying pathology of the disease but haven't yet shown symptoms, the numbers are even more staggering—potentially six times higher. So, by mid-century we might have upwards of half a billion to three-quarters of a billion people at high risk.

So this is a health crisis of unprecedented scale, with an estimated 20,000 people dying from Alzheimer's daily worldwide—about 1,300 each day in the U.S. and Europe. As you said, yes, this is time to act. Governments, industries, and public health authorities worldwide must urgently focus on interventions and reducing the risk of future dementia.

Given the complexity of Alzheimer’s disease, it’s hard to ignore the great efforts our industry has made, including the introduction of two new medicines for Alzheimer’s patients during the past two years. Could you share your thoughts on the impact of these medicines? Where do you see the remaining challenges?

George Vradenburg: From a patient's perspective, these new medicines are historic. They’re groundbreaking because they interfere with the actual progression of the disease—they’re disease-modifying. It took us 117 years since Dr. Alzheimer identified the disease to reach this point, which is almost unconscionable. But having two medicines now that modify the course is an enormous breakthrough. They’re crucial for patients because they slow the disease's progression. However, they don’t stop, cure, or reverse the disease. As revolutionary as they are, we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

It’s obviously also important that innovation moves earlier in the disease’s course. These drugs are now being tested in pre-symptomatic populations—before symptoms appear, when toxic proteins like beta-amyloid and tau are building up. If we can introduce drugs at this stage, it’s plausible to defer symptoms for a long time, allowing people to live their lives symptom-free. Another huge hurdle we are trying to overcome right now is to lower the cost of diagnostics—ensuring early, accurate, and affordable diagnosis—and getting the global health system to adjust to prescribing these drugs.

The HIV/AIDS world has shown us that it’s possible to live a long, natural life with an underlying condition if we intervene early. The same theory applies here—intervening early to prevent symptoms is where we’re headed in the next few years.

George, you’ve highlighted the immense challenges and progress we’ve made, but it’s clear that no one can tackle these challenges alone. Given the urgency, how crucial is it that we seize this moment for global collaboration in the fight against Alzheimer’s?

George Vradenburg: As I said earlier, Alzheimer’s impacts tens of millions of individuals around the world today and perhaps hundreds of millions of individuals in the future. So there is a common objective here that all of us should share, but very rarely do the academic, government, industry, and patient communities sit down together to say, "What do we need to do this year? What do we need to do in the next five years? What do we need to do in the next 10 years?"

So the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) is playing precisely that role. DAC wants people to think about this as a global problem, not just as a European or a U.S. problem. We’ve seen massive investments in fighting infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and polio, which have saved countless lives. But Alzheimer’s is on track to kill far more people, and we need the same level of collaboration and persistence globally to combat it. So I think we need that kind of collaboration, persistence through global mechanisms to look at how we can get at this disease, how we can pursue it through time with the diverse populations being affected, getting new medicines to market, and also new means of prevention.

And where do you see the most significant opportunities for us to come together more effectively?

George Vradenburg: We should have global mechanisms on non-communicable disease. Hearing loss has been one of the top risk factors for later life dementia because it reduces people's socialization, and reducing their socialization reduces their daily brain activity. But cardiometabolic diseases, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, are all major risk factors for future brain decay and brain loss, or, if you don't have those diseases, brain resilience against this disease. So active cardiometabolic interventions globally that really reduce the rate of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, coupled with potential lifestyle changes, can have a major impact, estimated now to 40 to 50 percent of future cases being able to be deferred or prevented entirely. The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative is advocating now on major cardiometabolic interventions, and demonstrating their significant impact on the rate of dementia over the years.

Is there anything on the horizon that would revolutionize the field?

George Vradenburg: If you look ahead to the next decade, one of the big things we should be thinking about is vaccines for Alzheimer’s. Now it might seem a bit like a fantasy at the moment, but there are already eight companies working on active immunotherapies. These are approaches that stimulate your own immune system to prevent the buildup of the toxic proteins associated with this disease.

The idea of a vaccine is exciting, especially if it could be low-cost. But for that to happen, we need to align regulatory systems, government payment systems, and distribution networks—whether through community health workers or primary care—across the globe to make this a reality. My personal goal for the next decade is to see a vaccine, or vaccines, on the market that are affordable and globally accessible, paired with low-cost diagnostics, so that we can offer it to people at a certain age or risk level and prevent the accumulation of these toxic proteins.

The potential of developing a vaccine within the next 10 years is incredibly inspiring to hear. Alzheimer’s is such a challenging field, and you’ve dedicated so much of your life to it. What keeps you motivated day in and day out?

George Vradenburg: Well, I’m not a scientist or a doctor—I’m a lawyer by background. What drives me is the fact that three generations of my family—my grandparent, parent, and sibling—have been affected by this disease. There’s clearly a genetic component, and while I haven’t experienced any symptoms myself and get tested regularly, I worry about my children and grandchildren. The impact on my family has been profound, and I know I’m not alone. We did some polling last year and found that half of adult Americans have had this disease in their family or with a close friend. A quarter of Americans have been caregivers for someone with dementia. This disease has a personal impact on perhaps half the world’s population.

So, how can we not respond? How can we not get angry at this disease and demand greater collaboration among governments, researchers, and industry to address this extraordinary unmet need? We responded globally to HIV/AIDS—we did it effectively over the past 20, 30, 40 years. We developed new medicines to suppress the pathology of AIDS, allowing people to live long and healthy lives without symptoms. That’s a goal we should all passionately pursue with Alzheimer’s.

So I do it because of the impact on my family. It attacked me. I want to get back at it. The anger that you feel, the pain that you feel as a consequence of the impact of the disease on your family. We need to turn to action and not just sit back and take it. Let's turn it to action and look forward. Let us seize this global moment to work together at scale so that we can all tackle this disease.

Thank you, George. Alzheimer’s disease is a daunting challenge, but as you’ve said, together we can fight back. Your bold and fearless efforts truly embody the spirit our industry strives for. Thank you for the incredible work you do.

George Vradenburg: Thank you for WuXi AppTec’s consistent and persistent attention to the issue.