July 20, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT  

Watch UsAgainstAlzheimer's activist Brenda Bouchard ask Hillary Cliniton a question about Alzheimer's and caregiving. In response to the question, Clinton stated, “I’m 100% committed to increasing the research that goes into Alzheimer’s.” 


MUST READS 

A July 20, 2015 Boston Globe article reported on progress in the fight against Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “On Sunday, researchers at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference reported possible new ways to predict who will get sick with the more common late-onset Alzheimer’s — vital data for testing potential treatments — and a single test probably won’t be enough, said Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist Marilyn Albert.”

A July 19, 2015 The Financial Times article reported on the “fresh hope” for an Alzheimer’s treatment. According to the article, “Hopes of a breakthrough have been rising since March when Biogen, the US biotech group, announced positive trial results for an experimental Alzheimer’s medicine called, aducanumab. Sceptics cautioned that it was too soon to get excited about what was an early-stage study involving just 166 patients. But the bullish mood will become harder to resist if, as widely expected, Eli Lilly provides further cause for encouragement when it reveals data from a much bigger trial of its solanezumab drug in Washington on Wednesday…Still, there are signs of broader momentum. As politicians wake up to the scale of dementia’s social and economic burden, more public funds and policy attention are being committed to the problem. There is still a relative lack of investment — the UK government and charities spend about eight times more on cancer research than dementia — but measures are being put in place to narrow the gap. David Cameron, UK prime minister, this year launched a $100m Dementia Discovery Fund backed by industry and government to support early-stage research.” [behind paywall] 

A July 19, 2015 Associated Press article (via Yahoo! News) reported that families struggling with early onset Alzheimer’s are pushing for increased research funding. According to the article, “On Saturday, researchers for the first time brought together dozens of these families — patients, patients-to-be and their healthy loved ones — from as far as Australia and Britain to meet face to face. They shared advice about when their children should undergo gene testing to learn their own fate, and they got an unusual opportunity to grill government and drug company officials about why it's taking so long to find a good treatment…Now scientists think the best hope against Alzheimer's is to treat high-risk people long before symptoms appear, aiming to at least stall the disease if not prevent it.”

A July 19, 2015 Bucks County Courier Times article highlighted Alzheimer’s patient advocate Michael Ellenbogen’s efforts to be be an effective advocate while also battling Alzheimer’s.

A July 19, 2015 The Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Robert Ingram warned against price controls for groundbreaking medicines and medical innovations. According to Ingram, “Prescription drugs account for only about 10% of U.S. health-care spending, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This percentage has not changed since 1960 and is projected to remain the same for the next decade. The idea that prescription drug prices are driving the increase in health-care costs is false. U.S. pharmaceutical companies, and the prescription medications they produce, are providing real value to millions of patients. Price controls—masquerading as transparency laws—will only do harm.” Mr. Ingram, the former CEO and chairman of GlaxoWellcome, is a general partner in Hatteras Venture Partners, which invests in early-stage life-science companies. 


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A July 17, 2015 CNBC article reported on Biogen’s efforts to find the “perfect dose” for its Alzheimer’s treatment. According to the article, “Highly anticipated data due out next week on its experimental Alzheimer's medicine could show whether aducanumab will be among the first drugs to slow the cognitive declines associated with the disease…The problem: The 10 milligram dose, while showing the highest efficacy, also came with a troubling side effect. Known as ARIA, or amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, it's associated with removal of the amyloid plaques in the brain that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's and can result in brain swelling. So Biogen has also been testing a fourth dose, of 6 milligrams. At the March presentation, results were only available on that dose through about six months. Wednesday will show the data out to one year.”