>The fact that we continue testing animal models of Alzheimer's that we have proven to be a bad model of humans, likewise shows that Alzheimer's research has become a cargo cult science.
Partially. It also, more primarily, shows that medical funders and ethics committees demand very strong evidence in one animal model before they allow you to move a step "up the ladder" towards humans. What you can test on mice, you haven't managed to get approval to test in nonhuman primates. What you can test in nonhuman primates, you might get approval to test in humans. What you can test in humans, might finally prove useful for treating humans.
But the broad assumption is that if something fails in mice, we can know it would have been unethical to try it on humans first.
Partially. It also, more primarily, shows that medical funders and ethics committees demand very strong evidence in one animal model before they allow you to move a step "up the ladder" towards humans. What you can test on mice, you haven't managed to get approval to test in nonhuman primates. What you can test in nonhuman primates, you might get approval to test in humans. What you can test in humans, might finally prove useful for treating humans.
But the broad assumption is that if something fails in mice, we can know it would have been unethical to try it on humans first.