USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Join our next Alzheimer's Talks on Wednesday, June 28, from 4 to 5pm (EST) with Dr. Laurie Ryan, Chief of the Dementias of Aging Branch and Program Director of Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials at the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Ryan will discuss clinical trial recruitment challenges and strategies.

A June 22, 2017 Univision article [in Spanish] reported on opposition to the Senate’s newly released healthcare bill and its impact on the “most vulnerable.” The article quoted UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Chairman, George Vradenburg, as stating, “On behalf of millions of Americans who are grappling with the social, emotional and financial impact of Alzheimer's disease, we are concerned that this Senate reform will undo the progress we have made against this destructive disease.”

MUST READS

A June 23, 2017 NBC News article reported that there’s no “magic bullet” to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but lifestyle changes such as controlling high blood pressure, regular exercise and specific memory training exercises may help reduce the risk or delay memory loss, according to the committee at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. “Even though clinical trials have not conclusively supported the three interventions discussed in our report, the evidence is strong enough to suggest the public should at least have access to these results to help inform their decisions about how they can invest their time and resources to maintain brain health with aging,” said Dr. Alan Leshner, Committee Chair and CEO emeritus, American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

A June 22, 2017 The Verge article focused on supplements sold online claiming to cure or prevent diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. This is illegal because claims that a pill can treat, cure, or prevent diseases must be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The Government Accountability Office analyzed (in a two-month period) 91 advertisements and discovered 28 ads, for 34 supplements, which claimed a product could protect against or treat dementia, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. This is big business - dietary supplements marketed to improve memory raked in $643 million in 2015. 

A June 22, 2017 The Hill article highlighted the Senate’s health appropriations subcommittee hearing on the NIH budget. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) voiced his strong opposition to cutting NIH funding, estimating that the cuts would eliminate 90,000 jobs nationwide, and reduce economic activity by $15.3 billion. According to Blunt, “I fundamentally disagree with the proposed funding reduction for NIH. A cut to NIH is not a cut to Washington bureaucracy — it is a cut to life-saving treatments and cures, affecting research performed all across the country.” Dr. Francis Collins, NIH Director, focused his testimony on the importance of NIH-sponsored science and its progress on diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which affect millions of Americans.

MUST WATCH

A June 22, 2017 WUSA 9 video segment focused on the link between race, gender and Alzheimer’s disease. Georgetown Memory Disorders Program is recruiting patients and families, especially minorities, for several studies. One is to determine the impact of the drug Nilotinib on mild to moderate cases of AD. The second, a prevention study (“Generations Study”), is for people with an inherited genetic risk for AD who have not developed memory issues. Click here to volunteer for the trials.