USA2 SPOTLIGHT

(ICYMI) A July 18, 2017 WebMD article spotlighted a report from ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer's (RA2), a network of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, tracking the drugs currently in the Alzheimer’s pipeline. There are 27 drugs in phase 3 clinical trials, and eight in phase 2. According to Dr. David Morgan, RA2 founding member, and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology Professor at the University of South Florida, “There is no silver bullet when it comes to treating Alzheimer’s. The more we learn about the underlying Alzheimer's pathology, the closer we get to a cure for a disease that is an enormous burden on patients, caregivers and global health systems.” Read the full UsA2 statement here. Also covered by: Express, Fierce Biotech, Daily Mail, and others.

MUST READS

According to a July 19, 2017 The Washington Post article (subscription only), a four-year study (launched 2016) at UCSF, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London, shows that a significant portion of people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia who are taking Alzheimer’s medication may in fact not have the disease. The Imaging Dementia-Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (IDEAS) study is using PET scans to test over 18,000 Medicare beneficiaries to see if their brains contain the amyloid plaques. Over 400 physicians enrolled their patients in the study and after seeing the scan results, changed their care plans for two-thirds of their patients.

A July 19, 2017 The Guardian opinion piece by Joseph Jebelli, neuroscientist and author, looked at the state of Alzheimer’s in the UK. Research funding is sorely lacking due in part to the denial and fear often surrounding AD. It is the second leading cause of death among old people and cannot be ignored any longer. Alzheimer’s drug candidates thus far have a 99.6% failure rate, and epidemiologists estimate that the total number of cases will double every 20 years, making dementia the next global pandemic. According to Jebelli, “It is time to abolish their [patients’] fear and silence. It’s time to foster a seriousness of purpose that defeats Alzheimer’s once and for all.”

A July 18, 2017 The Spokesman-Review article reported that researchers are looking to changes in speech over time (content and fluency) to help diagnose mental decline, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. According to Sterling Johnson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “What we’ve discovered here is there are aspects of language that are affected earlier than we thought,” before or at the same time that memory problems emerge. Doctors could use a digital tape recorder, and computer program or app to analyze results. 

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

A July 18, 2017 The Pharmaceutical Journal article spotlighted a new report regarding the health of England’s population. Combining Public Health England data and knowledge on the health of the UK population in 2017, it was found that people are living longer and have more years in good health, but at the same time deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease have increased by 60% in males and doubled in females. In 2015, dementia and AD were the most common causes of female deaths, and second for men. “At Alzheimer’s Research UK, we have committed to finding a life-changing treatment by 2025 but we cannot do this alone, and it will be crucial for government to continue its focus on dementia research,” said Matthew Norton, Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Director of Policy.