March 27, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

The impact of Alzheimer's testing on long-term care insurance, big data and drug development, and George Vradenburg on Talk Nation Radio (read more). 
 

Must reads

  • A March 26, 2014 Forbes article reported on the impact of Alzheimer's tests on long-term care insurance. According to the article, "A widely available test to predict Alzheimer’s would make any form of voluntary long-term care insurance impossible. “It would be a huge game changer,” one insurance actuary told me. Here’s why: If you take the test and find you are almost certain to develop cognitive impairment, you are far more likely to buy long-term care insurance."
  • A March 26, 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek article highlighted the potential of "big data" to "tackle the root of drug development failures." According to the article, "By harnessing the latest advances in genomics and the growing ability to gather and analyze large sums of biological data, they seek to eliminate development of drugs that target the wrong biological pathways, pre-empting billions of dollars of wasted research spending." According to Janet Thornton, director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, "Maximizing our use of ‘big data’ in the life sciences is critical for solving some of society’s most pressing problems...As biology becomes increasingly data-driven, pre-competitive collaborations such as the Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation have become crucial for improving efficiencies, driving down costs and providing the best opportunities to deliver beneficial results."
  • A March 25, 2014 Democrats.com Talk Nation Radio show featured an interview with USA2 Chairman George Vradenburg about the devastation of Alzheimer's disease. Listen here