Brain science getty

This week delivered a sobering reminder that Alzheimer’s disease continues to defy even the most sophisticated scientific strategies. Within 24 hours, two major pharmaceutical players—Johnson & Johnson and Novo Nordisk—announced failures of their respective Phase 2 and Phase 3 programs, each representing billions in potential investment and years of work.

A Double Dose Of Disappointment

J&J’s posdinemab , an experimental anti-tau antibody once valued at over $5 billion in potential annual sales, failed to slow cognitive decline in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. The company promptly halted the trial, citing a lack of statistically significant benefit across cognitive endpoints.

Almost simultaneously, Novo Nordisk revealed that semaglutide , the oral GLP-1

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