$100 million test of a drug that may stop Alzheimer’s Disease

This story of a potentially huge development in health care ran in the new York Times 5/15/2012:

In a clinical trial that could lead to treatments that prevent Alzheimer’s disease, people who are genetically guaranteed to suffer from the disease years from now — but who do not yet have any symptoms — will for the first time be given a drug intended to stop them from developing it, federal officials announced Tuesday.

Experts say the study will be one of only a very few ever conducted to test prevention treatments for any genetically predestined disease. In Alzheimer’s research, the trial is unprecedented, “the first to focus on people who are cognitively normal but at very high risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

Testing a Drug That May Stop Alzheimer’s Before It Starts – NYTimes.com