Navigating Regulatory Hurdles in Alzheimer’s Drug Development
Protecting Sponsor Capital, Managing Risk, and Maximizing Probability of Success Denis Katz, MD, MHA Clinical Scientist & Development Strategist Founder, Salience Clinical, LLC Executive Summary Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug development remains the highest-stakes arena in biopharma. While the "Alzheimer’s Graveyard" is littered with multi-billion dollar failures, a new era of amyloid and tau-targeting therapies has proven that the regulatory path is navigable—but only for those with a disciplined risk architecture. Success in 2026 is driven by Translational Clarity : the ability to prove that biological changes translate into human functional benefit. The Success Gap ● 99.6%: Historical failure rate (2002–2012). ● 18 Years: The approval drought between novel disease-modifying therapies (2003–2021). ● $300M+: The average sunk R&D cost of...