GLOBAL LAUNCH EVENT The Lancet Series on Alzheimer disease: the new diagnostic and treatment landscape

In the past century, more than 460 terabytes of literature on Alzheimer’s disease have been written—equivalent to 100,000 editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica—with approximately two-thirds produced in the past 20 years. The recent initial successes of biological drugs for Alzheimer's disease add to this knowledge and herald a new era in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, as well as a novel approach to cognitive aging in general. 

With NI (natural intelligence) and personal expertise, 40 experts from 14 countries across four continents have distilled this vast body of knowledge into three scientific papers published in The Lancet. These papers present the most clinically actionable, patient-relevant, updated, and trusted information on the disease available to date.

The authors acknowledge that anti b-amyloid monoclonal antibodies slow the clinical progression of Alzheimer’s, may have potentially severe but manageable adverse effects, and compare favourably with biologics for other diseases concerning efficacy, tolerability, and costs. The use of these dugs must be incorporated into a robust and structured diagnostic journey that includes CSF, PET, and blood biomarkers in addition to traditional cognitive, behavioral assessments, and structural imaging.

They prioritize evidence-based non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions for behavioural symptoms before cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine for cognitive symptoms, the efficacy of which is reaffirmed. The authors finally share the debate within the Alzheimer’s community regarding the very definition of the disease, with paramount practical and societal implications, and they propose an innovative framework for secondary prevention in cognitively intact individuals.

References
•    New landscape of the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet. 2025;xxx:xxx-xxx.
•    Treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet. 2025;xxx:xxx-xxx.
•    Controversies and future directions. Lancet. 2025;xxx:xxx-xxx.