USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A July 19, 2019 Next Avenue article spotlighted UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Chairman and Co-Founder George Vradenburg and his work to help prepare the American healthcare system for dispensing an Alzheimer’s disease treatment, once it becomes available. UsA2 released “Preparing Us for a Cure” last week at AAIC, a collection of three new research studies on key areas of Alzheimer’s disease impacting the lives of patients, caregivers and communities. According to the article, “His [Vradenburg’s] group’s report highlighted three new “mechanisms of action” as alternative Alzheimer’s targets and continued diversification for dementia drug trials: stem cell, antimicrobial and endocrine. Like the approach used to find drug treatments for HIV, a cocktail of drug therapies may be the long-sought solution to treatment of the disease, the report notes.” Also covered by Forbes.

A July 16, 2019 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s release highlighted UsA2’s “Preparing Us for a Cure,” three new research studies focusing on key Alzheimer’s disease impact areas affecting patients, caregivers and communities. “‘Preparing Us for a Cure’ is all about readying our healthcare system so that when treatments and a cure are ultimately developed, patients and caregivers aren’t forced to wait 10 more years for the healthcare system to catch up to the science. We can’t afford to wait for access and payer issues, reimbursement, and other systemic challenges to be addressed down the road,” said UsA2 Chairman and Co-Founder George Vradenburg. The three studies are: “What Matters Most” Qualitative Patient and Caregiver Study, Alzheimer’s Pharmacological Pipeline Report, and Latino Caregiver Preferences Pilot Study.

MUST READS

A July 18, 2019 Scientific American article focused on latest thinking about Alzheimer’s disease at the AAIC gathering in Los Angeles last week. The field is now pivoting toward prevention, and a “cocktail” drug approach including addressing amyloid and tau build-up, and inflammation. According to the article, “Nearly everyone has now given up on the idea that fighting amyloid will be enough to combat Alzheimer’s on its own once damage has begun. There are 102 drugs being tested right now in patients… Yet few researchers believe in the prospect of a magic bullet. Scientists think that it’s more likely that a combination of approaches will be needed to prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s, similar to how a drug cocktail is needed to treat HIV.”

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A July 21, 2019 Medical News Today article looked at the function of the CHRFAM7A gene in Alzheimer’s disease and its role in drug effectiveness. In a new study on the effect of cholinesterase inhibitors in patients who did or didn't carry the gene, Dr. Kinga Szigeti, PhD, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center at the University of Buffalo, NY, and her team used data from a 10-year cohort study on people with AD from the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium. “People who don't have the [CHRFAM7A] gene respond better to the drugs available now. Our work confirms that Alpha 7 is a very important target for treating Alzheimer's but the right model — a human model — has to be used when testing new drugs,” said Szigeti.

DISPARITIES SPOTLIGHT

In a July 19, 2019 Quartz article, Katherine Ellen Foley went to AAIC in Los Angeles to speak with participants about the issue of health disparities, and the lack of diversity in Alzheimer’s disease clinical research trials. Many trials remain ‘socially and culturally inaccessible,’ and additional time and money are needed to reach a broad community of potential participants. According to the article, “This disparity sets the field up for failure. It’s like being in a dark room with a single lamp, and studying only the part of the room that’s illuminated, says Jennifer Manly, a neuropsychologist at Columbia University. By excluding minorities from research, the scientific community is not only overlooking potential therapies, but failing to address social health disparities: Minorities have higher rates of dementia.”