USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Join our next Alzheimer's Talks to learn about veterans and Alzheimer’s disease, and current findings and forecast from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. With Veterans Day approaching, two experts from the Department of Veterans Affairs join us: Dr. Tom Edes, who oversees Geriatrics and Extended Care Services for VA Clinical Operations, and Dr. Alex Chiu, who leads VA’s portfolio of Alzheimer’s disease research. Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 4:00pm (EST).

MUST READS

An October 29, 2018 Frontiers Blog post spotlighted Bruce Miller, Chief Editor of the new specialty Dementia in "Frontiers in Neurology," and his focus on understanding neurodegenerative disease. According to Miller, “Free, accessible research results allow for a more educated and fair community. Libraries can shift subscription costs to offset the costs for authors to get published, and the peer review service provided by leaders in the field ensures quality. The results need to reach not only other scientists and academics in the US, but also scientists in lower-income countries that may not be able to afford journal subscriptions, policy makers around the world, and others that can be helped by the results as well as add to the body of knowledge. Dementia is a complex syndrome, and it is important to take global, collaborative and openly available efforts to develop treatments.”

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

According to an October 29, 2018 Stockhouse press release, new data from AC Immune SA shows that crenezumab, an anti-beta amyloid antibody, protected neurons from synaptic loss, tau phosphorylation, and neuronal death in a concentration-dependent manner. “The results of these studies support the clinical rationale for crenezumab and further underscore our confidence in the potential of crenezumab to become a transformative therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease,” said Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune.

CLINICAL TRIAL SPOTLIGHT

An October 29, 2018 Seeking Alpha article referenced the latest data on Biogen and Eisai's BAN2401 drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Based on numbers from the drug companies’ press release, the article states, “The FDA would not approve a drug based on these ADCOMS results." Furthermore, "Biogen and Eisai are now trying to turn this negative into a positive by shifting focus in the second sentence to their assertion that the drug had a real treatment effect and it was not a result of the imbalance between APOE4 carriers in the placebo group versus the highest dose group. Critics (including myself) suggested that the imbalance between many APOE4 carriers in the placebo group versus a handful of APOE4 carriers in the higher dose groups made it appear that BAN2401 was more effective than it actually was…”

CAREGIVING CORNER

An October 28, 2018 The Advocate Alzheimer’s Q&A looked at how ‘improvised activities’ can benefit people with dementia. For caregivers, improvisation incorporates active listening, experiencing joy in the moment, expanding awareness and observation, and letting go of control. The Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago runs the Memory Ensemble, an improv theater intervention program for people with dementia, in partnership with the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's disease Center at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. According to the article, “Basically, improvisation provides a connection to the affected individual by saying “yes” to his or her reality… Improv focuses on skills that people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia have not forgotten.”

DEMENTIA AND THE ARTS

An October 23, 2018 OUPblog (Oxford University Press) blog post examined the trend of using music therapy to increase wellbeing for people with dementia, and urged a person-centered approach for therapists. Research shows that people with dementia retain their musical preferences, based on personal identity and life events. According to the post, “The increasing popularity in the use of music in dementia care has led to many positive outcomes, but it also highlights the need to ensure safe, informed use of music with people with dementia. “Therapeutic music activities” can be un-therapeutic if facilitators do not pay sufficient attention to the mood and preferences of people with dementia in that moment.”

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

An October 29, 2018 Labiotech article reported that a Phase IIb/III trial, from Spanish company Grifols, of a blood plasma replacement therapy showed reduction of cognitive decline by 61% in patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The therapy stops amyloid-beta accumulation in brain tissue, a major hallmark of AD, by extracting blood plasma and replacing it with a solution of albumin. Amyloid-beta sticks to the solution, and it is cleared from the brain.