Meet Leon Wang, teen who found 2 drugs that may reduce Alzheimer's damage
Seventeen-year-old student Leon Wang has identified two FDA-approved drugs, nintedanib and pirfenidone, that may help protect brain cells from Alzheimer's-related damage. His research focuses on the APOE4 gene variant and its impact on vascular cells in the brain.
Why it matters
This research highlights the potential of drug repurposing to accelerate treatments for complex neurological disorders like Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the most difficult neurological disorders to treat, partly because the processes behind it can begin damaging brain cells long before symptoms become apparent. Now, a project by 17-year-old Connecticut student Leon Wang has drawn attention for exploring whether medicines already approved for other uses could help protect brain cells from some Alzheimer’s-linked damage. According to the Society for Science, Wang investigated whether existing medicines could counter this damage and identified two FDA-approved drugs, nintedanib and pirfenidone, that showed protective effects in his cellular model. His research earned recognition at the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search, highlighting drug repurposing's potential in the search for new approaches to complex diseases.Understanding the role of APOE4Wang’s project focused on APOE4, a variant of the APOE gene and the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
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