February 13, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Massachusetts lawmakers set dementia care standards, new research on the impact of dementia across generations, and George Vradenburg discusses NIH's Accelerating Medicines Partnership (read more). 

 

Must reads

  • A February 14, 2014 Boston Globe article reported that Massachusetts regulators have finalized dementia care rules that will apply across the state. According to the article, "The regulations, approved nearly two years after Massachusetts lawmakers passed legislation mandating minimum standards for these specialized units, also require that the facilities have at least one “therapeutic activities director” dedicated to the dementia unit to ensure meaningful and appropriate activities for residents.The rules close a loophole that had allowed nursing homes to advertise dementia units without any specific training for their workers, specialized activities for residents, or safety measures in place, such as high fences, to prevent residents from wandering."
  • A February 12, 2014 Los Angeles Times article reported that a new study has found that "The brains of adults who have elderly parents diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease betray troubling hallmarks of the same disease even in middle age, when the memory and mental skills of these grown children are still perfectly normal." According to the article, "While dispiriting news for those who have watched their parents' minds robbed by Alzheimer's, the new research may aim at something more hopeful. By detecting and characterizing the earliest signs of Alzheimer's risk, studies like these may allow physicians to identify those who could benefit from therapies to prevent or delay progression of the disease long before it begins to affect cognitive function."
  • A February 12, 2014 AlzForum article reported on NIH's Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) and highlighted USA2's George Vradenburg. According to the article, "For Alzheimer’s disease, the new effort intends to fill two gaps in the present state of the research, said George Vradenburg of USAgainstAlzheimer’s. One is for better biomarkers to track disease in preclinical populations and show if a drug is working. The second is for validated therapeutic targets beyond amyloid and tau. “That will increase the number of shots on goal,” said Vradenburg. Most Alzheimer’s drug candidates have failed in clinical trials, and none have been approved in the last decade. The NIH estimates about a 95 percent failure rate for new drugs for any disorder, and AMP aims to improve this average."
Press releases