Commentary on "Alzheimer's disease drug development and the problem of the blood-brain barrier"

The perspective by Dr. William Pardridge entitled "Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery and the Problem of the Blood-Brain Barrier" makes a strong case for the imbalance in resource distribution to the drug-discovery and brain drug delivery processes, where the latter received less than 1% of the investment of the former. My own calculations are consistent with this striking imbalance. Dr. Pardridge predicts that current trials of passive immunity against beta-amyloid peptide will likely fail, whereas past trials of active immunization exhibited trial-ending side effects, in part because of disruption of the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. To bring an assessment of the physiology of the blood-brain barrier and the brain delivery of drugs to the fore, several changes are needed in the way we perceive the problem, train our young scientists, organize research efforts, and incentivize reaching our common goals of effective drug therapy for Alzheimer's disease. (C) 2009 The Alzheimer's Association. All rights reserved.