Drugs against Alzheimer's disease, which affects 1.2 million French people, are no longer reimbursed because of their lack of effectiveness.
But research continues to progress and strategies evolve.
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One in two French people know a person living with Alzheimer's, according to the barometer of the Médéric foundation.
The disease affects 1.2 million people in the country, but its treatments have not been reimbursed since 2018, due to their lack of effectiveness.
At the same time, research continues to progress.
On the occasion of World Alzheimer's Disease Day, Europe 1 takes stock.
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"Stop the disease at a stage where recovery is possible"
One of the great discoveries of the last fifteen years is that Alzheimer's disease begins silently, ten or twenty years before the onset of symptoms.
The researchers' new strategy is therefore to identify patients upstream, by genetics or through brain imaging, and to develop treatments to give them earlier.
"There are about a hundred molecules in the world which are being tested, with different targets, for which the results are awaited", explains to Europe 1 Professor Philippe Amouyel, director general of the Alzheimer Foundation.
"Instead of being used when people have symptoms, they are used before symptoms, in the hope that they can have an effect and stop the disease at a point where recovery is possible."
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Significant results from next year?
The idea is simple: since we cannot repair the brain, it must be protected sooner.
Among these treatments being tested, some therefore aim to protect neurons in order to limit memory disorders.
Others aim to block the formation of the amyloid protein, which disrupts the brain of patients.
And although no new drug to treat Alzheimer's have been on the market for more than 15 years, this time the experts are more optimistic: they hope for significant clinical trial results as early as next year.