UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Chairman George Vradenburg today issued the following statement regarding Pfizer’s investment in neuroscience startups:

“Pfizer’s announcement yesterday to invest $600 million of venture capital funding in startups, with one quarter of that investment going to neuroscience, is welcome news for the Alzheimer’s community. While we were all disappointed when Pfizer terminated its internal Alzheimer’s research and development program earlier this year, this move reflects a large and continued commitment to sparking innovation in the Alzheimer’s and neuroscience space.

“By diversifying its investments across several neuroscience startups, Pfizer can accelerate drug discovery and increase shots on goal for the field - this is critical given the scope of the Alzheimer’s challenge and the lack of success to date in drug development.

“The Alzheimer’s community has not seen a new drug in nearly twenty years. Worse, it has never seen a drug that interrupts the underlying course of the disease, meaning we have no way today to slow or reverse its progression. Greater funding of smaller risk-oriented firms in neuroscience will increase our capability to develop novel molecules using out-of-the-box methods to modify the processes that underlie neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Through these efforts, we are moving closer to a much needed treatment. We can’t afford not to take risks on innovative approaches given the nearly 50 million families touched by Alzheimer’s globally.”

###