“The State of Sepsis and Alzheimer’s Disease Research: Birds of a Feather” by Steven P. LaRosa, M.D.
I have spent the greater part of 20 years as a clinical trialist is sepsis. Recently I have become interested as an Infectious Disease Physician in the viral disease of Alzheimer’s disease. What has amazed me is how similar the situation is in both fields. Both illnesses afflict affect millions worldwide with the annual incidence growing rapidly as the population ages. Despite improvements in background care, the one month mortality from sepsis remains high at 20%. There are no adjuvant agents FDA approved to reverse the organ dysfunction seen in sepsis. The prognosis in those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease is also poor, and currently FDA-approved therapies amount to what my colleague states as “giving the patient a cup of coffee”. The history of clinical trials in the two disease entities is also remarkably similar. Thousands of patients and millions of dollars have been spent on clinical trials of experimental therapies. These two diseases are the “holy grails” or “Moby Dick