June 18, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Preparing now for Alzheimer's down the road, the latest on the drug pipeline for Alzheimer's, and privacy concerns with big data and healthcare (read more).  
 

Must reads

  • A June 18, 2014 Chicago Tribune Health article highlighted the need to prepare now financially for Alzheimer's down the road. According to the article, "Because Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, families usually have more time to plan than they do with an immediate trauma, such as a stroke. But because Alzheimer's can last such a long time, it's best to start planning for the next steps right away, even if your long-term-care policy or savings will pay for the first few years of care, says Karl Kim, a certified financial planner in La Mirada, Calif., who specializes in retirement crisis planning."
  • A June 17, 2014 The PhRMA Letter reported on the current pipeline of new drugs for diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart disease. According to the article, "The new report conveys a variety of novel approaches building on our growing knowledge of disease and scientific progress to treat many of these disorders. Examples include:A potential first-in-class medicine for Alzheimer’s disease that inhibits beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme (BACE), that could reduce plaque formation and modify Alzheimer’s disease progression." Graphic on drug pipeline here
  • A June 17, 2014 iHealthBeat article reported on the potential of big data to positively impact healthcare and also highlighted privacy concerns. According to the article, "Data collected from a large number of similar patients (such as digital images, genomic information and granular responses to clinical trials) can be mined to develop a treatment with an optimal outcome for the patients…Deven McGraw, a law partner in the health care practice of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, recently told a bipartisan policy forum on Big Data in health care, "If institutions don't have a way to connect and trust one another with respect to the data that they each have stewardship over, we won't have the environment that we need to improve health and health care." This is also true for individual consumers when it comes to privacy rights over personal health data."