Alzheimer's drugs are failing at a rate of 99.6%, and success rate for drugs designed to help patients with this form of
dementia is 47 times less than for drugs designed to help patients with
cancers ( www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-alzheimer-s-drugs-keep-failing/2014 ). How can it be so difficult to produce a valuable
drug for
Alzheimer's disease? Each human has a unique genetic and epigenetic makeup, thus endowing individuals with a highly unique
complement of genes, polymorphisms, mutations, RNAs,
proteins,
lipids, and complex
sugars, resulting in distinct genome,
proteome, metabolome, and also microbiome identity. This editorial is taking into account the uniqueness of each individual and surrounding environment, and stresses the point that a more accurate definition of a "common" disorder could be simply the amalgamation of a myriad of "
rare" diseases. These
rare diseases are being grouped together because they share a rather constant
complement of common features and, indeed, generally respond to empirically developed treatments, leading to a positive outcome consistently. We make the case that it is highly unlikely that such treatments, despite their statistical success measured with large cohorts using standardized clinical research, will be effective on all patients until we increase the depth and fidelity of our understanding of the individual "
rare" diseases that are grouped together in the "buckets" of common illnesses. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 27, 511-516.