Eisai says earlier diagnosis could transform Alzheimer's care

The treatment of Alzheimer's disease is entering a new era, with advances in diagnostics and emerging therapies shifting the focus from managing late-stage symptoms to detecting and treating the condition much earlier, according to Lynn Kramer, Chief Clinical Officer and Head of Clinical Research at Eisai.

Speaking in a sponsored interview published ahead of the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026, Kramer said the convergence of new blood-based diagnostics and anti-amyloid therapies is transforming the approach to Alzheimer's care.

"There has been a fundamental shift driving urgency across the field as earlier, actionable intervention is becoming possible," she said.

Kramer noted that the biological changes associated with Alzheimer's, including amyloid and tau pathology, can develop years or even decades before cognitive symptoms emerge. Advances in blood-based biomarkers, neuroimaging and molecular biology now offer the potential to identify the disease much earlier than was previously possible.

She said diagnostics and therapeutics are advancing simultaneously, creating an opportunity to intervene during earlier stages of disease progression, when treatment may have the greatest impact.

Looking ahead, Kramer said Alzheimer's care is moving towards a more biologically driven and personalised model, with diagnosis increasingly based on biomarkers rather than clinical symptoms alone. Such an approach could enable earlier identification of patients and more precise treatment strategies.

While anti-amyloid therapies remain central to current treatment, she said growing research into tau pathology, neuroinflammation and synaptic dysfunction could pave the way for combination therapies in the future. Advances in computational modelling and data science are also expected to improve predictions of disease progression and help optimise treatment decisions.

Kramer highlighted blood-based biomarkers as one of the most significant recent developments in Alzheimer's research. Unlike cerebrospinal fluid analysis or amyloid PET imaging, which can be costly and difficult to access, blood tests offer a less invasive and potentially more scalable method of detecting Alzheimer's-related pathology.

As evidence supporting their accuracy continues to grow, she said blood-based biomarkers are expected to play an increasingly important role in screening, risk assessment and diagnosis.

Despite these scientific advances, Kramer acknowledged that many patients are still diagnosed only after symptoms become pronounced. She attributed the delays to misconceptions that cognitive decline is a normal part of ageing, stigma surrounding dementia, limited awareness and historically complex diagnostic pathways.

To help address these challenges, Kramer said healthcare systems need clearer referral pathways and practical diagnostic tools for primary care physicians. She also pointed to the Brain Health Navigator programme, led by the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative with support from Eisai, which is being piloted in U.S. health systems to guide patients from their first cognitive concerns through diagnosis and follow-up.

Kramer concluded that Alzheimer's disease has reached a pivotal moment, arguing that earlier detection, diagnosis and intervention are now becoming realistic goals. The challenge, she said, is ensuring that scientific advances are translated into improved outcomes for patients in routine clinical practice.

By Aghakazim Guliyev