Panel moderator Kenneth Davis asks the panel to explain the sobering fact that dementia treatment has essentially stalled since its last breakthrough in the 1970s:

It’s a staggering statistic: women have a twofold greater lifetime risk than men of developing Alzheimer’s. Roberta Brinton, professor at the University of Arizona, says that although women tend to live longer than men and Alzheimer’s presents itself later in life, that’s not the full picture behind the statistic

Women can develop detectable signs of Alzheimer’s as early as perimenopause, according to Brinton. The good news, says Brinton, is that some simple metabolic tests can help identify women at risk during these early stages.

Conventional medical wisdom says that increasing overall brain health (also called brain resiliency) through social interaction, learning languages, crossword puzzles, etc., can only help in warding off deleterious symptoms of Alzhiemers. But does brain resiliency actually play a role in treating Alzheimer's itself, or is a resilient brain just better able to weather the symptoms? This question exposes a rift within the medical community, and Allan Levey and Paul Eisen are eager to debate each other about it:

Although 35 different Alzheimer’s drug trials fell flat, Allan Levey explains how this catalyzed pharmaceutical leaders to overhaul their whole research process. When drug companies realized they were duplicating fruitless efforts to develop an Alzheimer’s treatment, they came together with government agencies to share data and resources in a partnership called the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP).

Paul Eisen says that almost all Alzheimer’s researchers agree that until an effective treatment is found, no option should be left on the table. With a disease as complex and insidious as Alzheimer’s, the range of possible treatments has to be narrowed before real progress can be made.