Our Mission
Why are we starting the Foundation of Memory?
We founded this non-profit to accelerate the research quest for effective treatment. We think we have found a potential treatment that could greatly improve the outcome in many different degenerative brain diseases. We’re seeking funds to support this research as well as subsequent research that will test these treatments.
Why has big pharma failed here?
The pharmaceutical companies make small steps in drug development. For example, all current treatments for AD use a single antibody to clear out amyloid from the brain. One antibody, even though it is known that many antibodies would be required to actually remove the disease. Additionally, when we speak of Alzheimer’s, we speak of something that rarely exists as a single disease. If you look closely at the biomarkers in each individual with a neurodegenerative condition, they often have mixed dementias. If you dig even deeper, and investigate the immunological response in these patients, you start to see that even the best clinical biomarkers miss the truth.
Why are we different?
Our research runs counter to the prevailing pharmaceutical paradigm. Because every Alzheimer’s patient has a unique neurodegenerative condition, and because every patient’s immune system creates hundreds of antibodies to fight the underlying misfolded proteins, why create a single antibody? It won’t work. So, let’s try something that does. We’ll pursue a treatment in line with the truth of the disease, which is that each individual is unique, with unique pathology, and in need of unique treatment. Therefore, our research aims to create a treatment that leverages the body’s arsenal of antibodies to treat all the underlying pathology.
Are you ready to turn the key?
A message from our founder, William Shankle
The Alzheimer’s community is vast and growing year over year. While there are many other Alzheimer’s organizations dedicated to research and treatments, I created our non-profit, The Foundation of Memory, for one simple reason: to pursue better treatments.
In over 40 years of clinical work, I’ve seen the full history of Alzheimer’s treatments. At first, we didn’t have anything we could use. Then came cholinesterase inhibitors, like rivastigmine and donepezil, as well as an NMDA blocker called memantine. The prevailing approach for the last two decades has been to treat the disease intravenously with anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies. While each therapy has its use, as well as some useful supplements that can restore depleted metabolic systems, none of them is a cure for Alzheimer’s or any other disease. Currently, the best anyone can do is buy you or your loved one some additional time before the disease progresses.
As a result of trial and error in treating patients with cognitive impairment and dementia for the past 40 years, I have learned that the ability to measure the disease process leads to identifying more effective treatments. Indeed, in the past 12 years, the treatment outcomes of patients in my clinic have significantly improved compared to the era of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine. Identifying effective treatments has to be done at the individual level. Because every patient’s disease is different. By combining lead researchers in understanding the underlying causes of dementing disorders, and testing their hypotheses in a clinical setting, I have been able to accelerate discovery of partially effective treatments.
Frankly, that’s not good enough anymore.
Unfortunately, the monoclonal antibodies are even worse, yet are still the North Star for the pharmaceutical industry. When given intravenously, these drugs are extremely expensive and risky. They often lead to hemorrhage and edema, what is known in the field as ARIA. My approach, which we are currently preparing for publication, involves using an intranasal delivery mechanism that bypasses the blood-brain barrier entirely, thereby avoiding the risk of hemorrhage and other forms of ARIA.
My experience has simplified the problem. Treating degenerative disease is not that complicated. It is simply a number’s game. What does that mean? If the pathology increases, people get worse. If it does not change, people remain stable. And if it decreases we see partial improvement. This observation has encouraged me to use that principle to identify increasingly more effective treatments and delivery methods.
As we continue statistical analysis of our robust dataset, please check back in for updates on our blog. No matter our age, no matter our risk factors or our health, we should all have faith that the future will be remembered. I have dedicated my life to Alzheimer’s research and turning over every stone. I hope you will join me in this fight against a future without cures.
With your help, let’s do it.
Sincerely,
William Shankle, MS MD FACP