A Journalist's Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease and Drug Development

Alzheimer’s is not normal aging – it’s a disease that affects up to 50 million people worldwide. Learn about the past, present, and future of Alzheimer’s research in this guide from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. It is a biological disease marked by physical changes in the brain—most notably buildup of small protein clumps called plaques and tangles—that lead to the death of nerve cells. The cell death usually starts in specific regions of the brain and then spreads to others; as cells die, functions controlled by those areas fade and ultimately disappear, resulting in characteristic signs and symptoms at each stage of the disease.

Download and read this guide to learn more about the disease and the future of treatment.

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Howard Hughes Medical Institute