Scientists rally for Pfizer battle against Alzheimer's

"Alzheimer's is so slippery. It's not like other diseases," said photographer and writer Judith Fox to about 100 scientists in a gathering space at Building 220, Pfizer's main research site locally.

"We really don't know what causes the disease," acknowledged Martin Mackay, head of Pfizer's PharmaTherapeutics Research Group.

What people do know is that an Alzheimer's case is diagnosed somewhere in the world every 71 seconds, said Larry Alsteil, vice president of neuroscience clinical research for Pfizer. Alzheimer's sufferers generally live between two-and-a-half and seven years after diagnosis, he added.

"It's the sixth leading cause of death in the United States," he said. "There are no Alzheimer's disease survivors."

The first sign of Alzheimer's physically is the atrophy of parts of the brain, Alsteil said. But scientists are now starting to look at other factors, he said, such as the loss of synapses, which is how nerve cells talk to one another.

Currently, one of the best Alzheimer's therapies is the Pfizer drug Aricept, which generally helps patients in the first six to nine months after diagnosis, Alsteil said. But another Pfizer drug called Dimebon, still in development, has been shown to relieve symptoms for nearly a year, according to the latest studies, and a second trial to affirm those findings are due out next spring.

"We need to treat Alzheimer's disease before it results in brain failure," Alsteil added.

Alsteil said Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which Pfizer acquired in a $67 billion merger earlier this month, has a variety of treatments, both in drug trials and in preclinical development, that also hold out promise for treating Alzheimer's.

"I think we are unquestionably the industry leader," he said. "We probably have the strongest R&D team in the industry."

But many other companies are competing in similar research, Alsteil said, making it imperative that Pfizer develop better ways to identify people at risk of Alzheimer's, improve on its knowledge of disease biomarkers and enhance its trial designs.

"We're in an absolute race to get ahead in this field," Alsteil said.

Fox, whose new book "I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer's" was published in partnership with Pfizer, told the gathered scientists that she has enormous respect for their work and in the company's goal of spreading global awareness about the disease.

In her talk, Fox spoke about the difficulties of dealing with Alzheimer's as the caregiver for her husband, Ed, a former surgeon.

"You can't apply our logic to the world of Alzheimer's," Fox said, "because the Alzheimer's patient doesn't live in the same universe as we do for much of the disease."

Fox said caregivers, particularly, are often overlooked and undervalued.

Alsteil cited statistics that showed 10 million people currently taking care of Alzheimer's patients, representing $100 billion in uncompensated care. About 68 percent of those taking care of those with Alzheimer's have to either quit their jobs or take reduced hours, he added.

"Alzheimer's is so much tricker than most other diseases," Fox said. "This disease changes every three seconds. ... If your talk with Ed is brief enough, you won't know he has Alzheimer's."

Toni Hoover, a Pfizer senior vice president and site leader for Groton and New London, called Fox's book of photographs inspiring and promised local scientists would do all they could to bring the next Alzheimer's medicine to market for patients and caregivers.

"Alzheimer's is a priority, and we will not rest until we finally crack it," agreed Mackay, the head of Pfizer's traditional-medicines research.

l.howard@theday.com

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