MUST READS

An April 3, 2015 Michigan Live article reported on Senator Debbie Stabenow’s efforts to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and the HOPE Act including a stop at a newly constructed elder care facility in Saginaw. According to the article, “Stabenow met with about 50 people in Saginaw to talk about the legislation and issues surrounding the disease. If enacted, she said, the new laws would created a new care management program under Medicare to help patients, their families and caregivers to develop individual treatment plans for those suffering from the chronic neurodegenerative disease.” Sen. Stabenow stated, “The early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can be terrifying for individuals and their families, especially when they don't know what's happening and don't have a diagnosis…The HOPE for Alzheimer's Act will give Alzheimer's patients and their families the information and support they need to cope with this heartbreaking disease."

An April 2, 2015 U-T San Diego article by Shari Mount-Essex offered a glimpse into life with early onset Alzheimer’s. According to Mount-Essex, “Here I am in middle age, the prime of my life at age 52, anticipating all the wonderful things that this world has to offer, a time when most of us are raking leaves, walking the dog, going to work, enjoying vacations, but all the while oblivious that an insidious entity was high-jacking my memory…I went to several doctors for psychological testing, but it was deemed inconclusive. Finally, I found a doctor who was willing to make a diagnosis. It was early-onset Alzheimer’s. After all this time, for some reason, I was still shocked that someone as young as myself could get this disease.”

April 2, 2015 U-T San Diego article highlighted octogenarians and the unique challenges they face. According to the article, “Older people become more easily distracted. Problem solving gets harder. Then there is threat of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that one-third of all people 85 and older have Alzheimer’s. But AA makes a second point that often gets overlooked: “While age is the greatest risk factor, Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging and advanced age alone is not sufficient to cause the disease.” The statement speaks to the need to have a fuller understanding of healthy brains, as well as troubled ones.”

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

An April 2, 2015 Inside Science series on Alzheimer’s disease highlighted the progress of Alzheimer’s drug development. According to the article, “Alzheimer's is a graveyard for expensive drug tests. One study showed that between 2000 and 2012, 244 compounds were tested in 413 clinical trials. Only one was approved for use, a failure rate of 99.6 percent. Cancer drug tests fail at 81 percent. In at least one case, a potential Alzheimer's drug test was stopped because it appeared the drug could potentially kill subjects, showing how little is known about potential treatments even when testing has already begun…One test with great potential is just beginning. It’s called A4, or Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease, said Reisa Sperling of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It is the one "really exciting thing" to come along in the last 10 years, she said. The theory is based on the logic that if you begin looking for Alzheimer's disease before it gets to the stage known as mild cognitive impairment, it may then be possible to see whether a therapy that fights the amyloid would make a difference. The researchers will enlist 5,000 healthy adults above the age of 65, looking for around 1,100 subjects who are at high risk of Alzheimer's. It will be a double-blind study, the gold standard for scientific testing.” Read part one of the series here. 

CLINICAL TRIALS 

An April 2, 2015 The New York Times article reported on a new partnership between Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System to help address a lack of clinical trial participants for cancer treatments. According to the article, “North Shore-L.I.J., which has 19 hospitals spread through Long Island, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Westchester County, offers a genetically diverse patient base in the millions with different racial and ethnic backgrounds. It diagnoses and treats cancer in more than 16,000 new patients a year…More than $120 million will be invested in the collaboration over the next 10 years. Over time, Dr. Stillman said, the lab will build up a research unit in the hospital that will parallel the one it has for animals at Cold Spring Harbor. The closest comparison, he said, would be with academic medical centers like Massachusetts General, Dana Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Johns Hopkins. But, he added, “It’s very rare to have scientists working with clinicians and suggesting what the clinicians do.””