Alzheimer's disease: we've poured over US $50 billion into research since the '70s (with the NIH alone dropping $3.9 billion in 2024), turning it into a $360 billion annual black hole for the U.S. economy. Yet, for all that cash, we've got... squat. No cure, no reversal, just a parade of pricey pills that barely budge symptoms while turning brains into leaky sieves. Why? Because the holy grail of amyloid plaques, a theory cooked up, has been propped up by fraud, pharma greed, and a medical-industrial complex that treats "incurable" like a profit model. This isn't just a scandal; it's a systemic sabotage.
Flashback to 1906: Alois Alzheimer peers at brain slices under his microscope and spots amyloid plaques, sticky clumps of misfolded proteins gunking up neurons. Voilà, the "cause" of dementia is born. Fast-forward a century, and this hypothesis morphs into a juggernaut, sucking up half of NIH's Alzheimer's budget (about $1.6 billion last fiscal year). Why? Because plaques scream "target me with monoclonal antibodies!" — patentable gold for Big Pharma. Never mind that autopsies show plaques in healthy brains, or that folks with zero plaques still get foggy. The amyloid mafia (as dissenting scientists call it) dug in, labelling every flop a "paradox" and every alternative a heresy.
By 2006, scepticism peaked. Inflammation, insulin resistance, vascular glitches, these "other causes" were stealing the spotlight. Enter Sylvain Lesné, a rising star at the University of Minnesota. His Nature paper unveils Aβ*56, a "toxic oligomer" (fancy talk for rogue protein snippets) that supposedly zaps rat brains into dementia. Boom: citations skyrocket (over 2,000 by 2022), Lesné becomes a rockstar, and billions flood amyloid R&D. NIH? Pharma? They lap it up like it's the fountain of youth.
But here's the plot twist: It was all smoke and mirrors. In 2021, a neuroscientist vetting a drug, spots doctored Western blots (those protein-detection images that are fraud catnip, remember Pfizer's COVID vaccine fakes?). Digging deeper, he unmasks Lesné's empire: 20 papers with manipulated gels, including the crown jewel Aβ*56 study. Co-author Karen Ashe? She'd flagged his sketchy ethics years earlier. Labs couldn't replicate the oligomer; it was unstable fairy dust.
The fallout? Crickets. Science outs the scandal in July 2022, but Lesné keeps his tenured gig and snags a $765K NIH grant months later, rubber-stamped by a 2006 co-author. Retraction? June 2024, after RFK Jr. blasts it during his HHS confirmation hearing. Lesné quits in January 2025, still protesting innocence. The amyloid cult? Shrug. "Doesn't disprove the hypothesis," they chant, as if fraud's just a rounding error. Billions wasted, careers built on lies, and patients? Left to wander the fog.
If amyloid's the emperor, these monoclonal antibodies are his ill-fitting new clothes. Hailed as "breakthroughs," they're immune-system hijackers that tag amyloid for macrophage munchies. Sounds sci-fi cool, until you tally the toll.
Aduhelm (Biogen's Folly): FDA's advisory panel votes 10-0 against approval, citing zero cognitive gains, just a sketchy 22% slowdown in decline (maybe from trial tweaks). FDA greenlights it anyway on "accelerated" fumes. Price? $56K/year, enough to crater Medicare. Side effects? ARIA (amyloid-related imaging abnormalities) in 41%: brain swelling, micro-bleeds, headaches, falls, delirium. Three advisors resign in protest: "Worst approval in U.S. history." Sales flop; price halves, then yanked in 2024 after $5M total revenue. Lesson? Even sheepish sheep won't swallow this wool.
Leqembi (Eisai's Encore): Targets amyloid precursors, dodging some plaque-stripping drama. ARIA drops to 21%, and it boasts a 27% slowdown (0.45 points on a 1-2 point "meaningful" scale, think delaying nursing home by four months). Still: nausea, confusion, and that nagging "is it worth it?" vibe. $26K/year. Modest sales ($290M in 2024), but JPMorgan's 2023 confab drools over the "incredible profitability."
Kisunla (Lilly's Latest): Hits "pathologic" plaques, but ARIA spikes to 37%, plus infusion anaphylaxis and hypertension roulette. Benefits? A whispery 0.45-point dip, contested as trial fluff. FDA's new panel? Unanimous yes, despite echoing Aduhelm's rejects. BMJ sleuths uncover nine of nine advisors with pharma ties. Conflicts? What conflicts?
These aren't cures; they're chemical carpentry, patching leaks while flooding the basement. Amyloid's no villain, it's a band-aid the brain slaps on inflammation or injury. Yank it? You get bleeds from destabilised vessels and immune overkill on healthy tissue. And the kicker: A 2022 coconut oil trial (MCTs as brain fuel) stabilises 80% of patients over six months, no bleeds, $30/month. Buried.
Here's the real crime: While amyloid alchemists chase unicorns, cheap, safe fixes gather dust. The RECODE protocol (2022, by Dr. Dale Bredesen) flips the script, dementia isn't one beast; it's five (vascular, inflammatory, toxic, etc.). Tailor therapies? Boom: 80%+ reversal in early cases. Forks in diet, sleep hacks, hormone tweaks, replicated worldwide, yet crickets from the cartel.
Then there's DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), the blue-collar miracle pharma hates. This solvent-by-day, healer-by-night penetrates tissues, quells inflammation, and reboots stalled cells. Stroke victims walk again; spinal cords reconnect. For brains? Decades of data:
Rats with slashed brain blood flow? DMSO restores 54% memory, near-normal cognition.
Alzheimer's-modelled rodents? Daily doses shield neurons, boost spatial smarts, even revive smell and slash anxiety.
Humans: 18 probable AD patients? Three months of DMSO = sharper memory, less disorientation. 104 elderly with vascular dementia? Paired with aminos, cognition and mobility soar. 100 cerebrovascular cases? Mood lifts, speech sharpens, hemiplegia fades.
Reader tales flood in: Sundowning vanishes, colouring books reclaim lost hands, uncles' wives chat post-year silence. One gem: DMSO flips amyloid precursors protective, not poisonous. Studies? Tens of thousands, lost in PubMed's basement, unfundable, unpromotable.
Why bury them? No patents, no profits. Medicine's biochemical bias births blockbusters, not broccoli. Chronic ills? "Manage forever." But root them out (toxins, glycation, sleep debt)? Poof, cured, and the gravy train derails.
This isn't isolated, it's the blueprint. Heart disease? Cholesterol myths peddle statins (minimal wins, muscle meltdowns). COVID? mRNA mandates ignore natural immunity. Alzheimer's exemplifies the scam: Fraud funnels funds, regulators rubber-stamp (FDA's Califf keynoted JPMorgan's pharma pep rally), and dissenters? Sidelined as the "anti-amyloid fringe."
Social cost? Catastrophic. 7 million U.S. cases, families shattered, $360B drained yearly. Globally? 55 million souls adrift. Yet, as MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) stirs under RFK's HHS watch, cracks show. Independent media (Substack, X) shreds the veil; patients bootstrap with coconut oil and DMSO, dodging the drip.
The amyloid era's epilogue: A $50B boondoggle yielding brain-bleeding busts. Time to torch the template, fund root-cause hunts, not patent chases. Prioritise RECODE, DMSO trials, lifestyle labs. With COVID's lies exposed and subsidies sparking shutdowns, the window's wide: Ditch the monopoly, embrace real medicine. Alzheimer's isn't inevitable; it's engineered obscurity.
https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/why-isnt-there-a-cure-for-alzheimers-d9d