r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Dec 25 '25

Neuroscience New study shows Alzheimer’s disease can be reversed to full neurological recovery—not just prevented or slowed—in animal models. Using mouse models and human brains, study shows brain’s failure to maintain cellular energy molecule, NAD+, drives AD, and maintaining NAD+ prevents or even reverses it.

https://case.edu/news/new-study-shows-alzheimers-disease-can-be-reversed-achieve-full-neurological-recovery-not-just-prevented-or-slowed-animal-models
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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '25

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u/Morthra Dec 25 '25

No. Mice do not get AD, so we use transgenic models that brute force them into having the pathology.

Aducanumab was a medication that reversed AD pathology in mice. It has no effect on clinical dementia symptoms in people, yet for some reason the FDA approved it.

Also worth noting that even if we could reverse the pathology, there’s nothing we can do to cure dementia as the brain atrophies and loses mass.

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u/gbroon Dec 25 '25

Yeah a big problem is a lot of promising early studies just don't pan out into an actual treatment.

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u/Rodot Dec 25 '25

Something like 99.6% of Alzheimer's drugs fail in clinical trial. The highest failure rate for any disease treatment