How a new kind of vaccine could lead to the eradication of Alzheimer’s

I have really modest goals. I want to have the largest impact on human suffering of anyone, ever,” says Lou Reese, co-founder of biotechnology company Vaxxinity. He might just pull it off. If everything goes to plan, by 2030 the firm will offer a new drug that will revolutionise our approach to one of the world’s most feared diseases, and may even lead to its eradication.

That disease is Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, which causes untold pain to people and their relatives. It and other forms of dementia are seen as a ticking time bomb ready to blow up in the brains of an increasingly elderly population.