Research Areas of Focus
Cure Alzheimer’s Fund set a record for scientific funding in 2023. We deployed $27.8 million for research purposes, a 13.6% increase from the previous record set in 2022 ($24.5 million). This total represents funds in support of 114 grants and 147 named investigators.
A fundamental principle of CureAlz’s approach to accelerating science to benefit the Alzheimer’s disease community is to provide funding where other entities will not, and prioritize returns measured in scientific progress, not potential profits. Thus, we continue to prioritize basic Alzheimer’s disease research over drug discovery, with most distributions in 2023—94% of awards—directed to early-stage discovery research.
Most funding went to translational research projects and a large fraction, around 25%, of all funded studies are on the immune response in Alzheimer’s disease. Under the right circumstances, CureAlz will continue to fund a great idea as it moves downstream closer to the clinic and patients; drug development efforts in this vein represented less than 5% of funding in 2023. We funded a healthy balance of renewing projects and entirely new or follow-on projects as part of our portfolio.
“The support from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund has enabled us to explore high-risk, high-reward topics that would not be funded by more traditional funding mechanisms, but hold the potential to make a transformative difference in both our understanding as well as the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.”
—JOHN R. LUKENS, PH.D.
More important than these numbers are the evident progress and wonderful discoveries enabled by this funding. The incredible successes our researchers have had in publishing their impactful work is a sign that we are making the right funding decisions to help patients and their families who desperately need solutions.