May 13, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A May 12, 2015 The Hill article reported that the Senate is working on an alternative bill to the House’s 21st Century Cures legislation. According to the article, “While that bill is moving forward, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said at an event hosted by The Hill and sponsored by PhRMA on Tuesday that the Senate would not just pass the House version.  “I think that the Senate will produce our own bill,” Burr said. While the timeline is still being worked out, Burr said he does not expect a bill for a matter of months…Cassidy said economic growth would help fill up the government’s coffers and make room for the funding.“You can't separate our ability to fund priorities like NIH from the overall state of the economy,” Cassidy said. Burr noted that savings from less spending on diseases could be used to help fund the legislation, and Cassidy likewise made the point that spending on Alzheimer’s alone is at $200 billion and rising.”

A May 12, 2015 Associated Press article (via Los Angeles Times) highlighted the use of high-tech sensors to help children monitor aging parents. According to the article, “Each time 81-year-old Bill Dworsky or his 80-year-old wife, Dorothy, opens the refrigerator, closes the bathroom door or lifts the lid on a pill container, tiny sensors in their San Francisco home make notes on a digital logbook. The couple's 53-year-old son, Phil, checks it daily on his smartphone. If there's no activity during a designated time, the younger Dworsky gets an automated email, so he can decide whether to call or stop by…The Silicon Valley tech executive lives just across town, but the sensors help him keep an eye on his aging parents while also raising a teenage daughter and frequently traveling for work. While his parents don't need a lot of assistance, they have stopped driving, and his father uses a cane.”


INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

A May 12, 2015 Forbes interview with Eli Lilly’s Chito Zulueta highlighted the company's strategy to speed clinical development in emerging markets. According to Zulueta, “Right now the key intervention is to include those countries in your global trials. That’s the quickest way. But sometimes, whether because of the protocol, or number of patients required, or timing, it doesn’t work to include those countries in those global trials. One product that comes to mind is solanezumab for Alzheimer’s. We didn’t include China in the global trial because they don’t yet have the brain imaging capabilities that are required for the trial. In the case of China, we are exploring the possibility of doing full local development there for some of our innovative molecules instead of adding China to global trials. And that means doing local manufacturing and clinical development in China for those molecules. The hypothesis is that if we do it locally and partner with a local company, that we will gain ground in the actual development and regulatory approval process that you wouldn’t gain by taking the imported path. That’s the hypothesis, and it is an important strategy that we are pursuing.” Chito Zulueta is President of Emerging Markets for Eli Lilly.


COGNITIVE HEALTH

A May 13, 2015 Huffington Post article highlighted myths about cognitive health, including the myth that there is nothing you can do to improve your cognitive health. According to the article, “Fact: There are actions individuals and families can take to help support their cognitive health and adapt to age-related cognitive changes…1. Be physically active. 2. Reduce your cardiovascular risk factors (including hypertension, diabetes and smoking). 3. Manage your medications by reviewing them with a clinician and learning about their effects on cognitive health.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A May 13, 2015 Reuters article reported on the efforts of companies to mine patient DNA and data to inform drug development. According to the article, “They are sequencing the DNA of very large patient populations to find rare genes that play a crucial role in either causing disease, or protecting people from illness…In March, Amgen reported in Nature Genetics the discovery of a new gene that raises a person's risk of Alzheimer's disease, and confirmed the role of two mutations involved in diabetes and atrial fibrillation…Genentech is also working with privately-held 23andMe to generate whole genome sequencing data for about 3,000 people with Parkinson's disease to identify new treatments for the degenerative neurological condition. Garret Hampton, a Genentech vice president, said the company preferred to collaborate with partners that already have genetic and detailed health information on patients, rather than build its own database. “It's hitting the ground running,” he said.”

A May 12, 2015 Gizmag article reported that researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and the University of California, Santa Barbara claim to have “constructed the world’s first electronic memory cell that effectively mimics the analog process of the human brain.” According to the article, “Working at the MicroNano Research Facility of RMIT, the researchers believe that the breakthrough not only carries them closer to reproducing key aspects of the human brain electronically, but could also one day assist in providing effective treatments for neurological conditions – such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases – by studying such diseases outside the body using artificial brains. Eventually, even cybernetic implants could conceivably be developed from this technology.”

A May 12, 2015 Medical Xpress article reported new research suggests “repetitive head injuries that occur during contact sports and military service may accelerate the aging process by increasing the build-up of beta-amyloid in the brain, leading to worse disease and an increased likelihood of developing dementia.” According to the article, “These findings, which currently appear online in the journal Acta Neuropathologica, is the first to establish the age-dependent deposition of beta-amyloid in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and may lead to the development of diagnostic tools and treatments for the long lasting effects of head trauma. CTE is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive mild traumatic brain injury. It is defined pathologically by the abnormal accumulation of tau in a unique pattern that is distinct from other tauopathies, including Alzheimer's disease. Although trauma has been suggested to increase amyloid β peptide (Aβ) levels, the extent of Aβ deposition in CTE has not been thoroughly characterized.”