There are currently no approved preventive or disease-modifying therapies available for Alzheimer’s disease. At the 2nd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from May 28–31 2016, Giovanni Frisoni, MD, from Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, discusses some of the ethical challenges associated with assessing biomarker status that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage.