July 23, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A July 22, 2015 HuffingtonPost Live interview featured WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s founder Jamie Tyrone in a discussion about the current progress of Alzheimer’s research. 

A July 22, 2015 PostBulletin.com article reported that UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of California-San Francisco's Brain Health Registry received a $1.5 million contract from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) to establish the National Alzheimer's and Dementia Patient and Caregiver-Powered Research Network. According to the article, the project “will serve to connect patients, caregivers and researchers focused on developing, conducting and disseminating dementia research studies.” Read the USA2 press release here.


MUST READS AND WATCH

A July 22, 2015 Bloomberg Business video highlighted the race to develop an Alzheimer’s cure and the latest research from Biogen.

A July 22, 2015 NPR audio interview with the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. David Knopman reported on the search for an effective diagnostic and treatment for Alzheimer’s. David S. Knopman, M.D., is a clinical neurologist involved in research in late-life cognitive disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

A July 23, 2015 NPR Morning Edition story highlighted the role of early onset Alzheimer’s sufferers in the search for an Alzheimer’s cure. According to the article, “People like Giedre have a rare gene mutation that causes symptoms of Alzheimer's to appear before they turn 60. Until recently, people who inherited this gene had no hope of avoiding dementia and an early death. Now there is a glimmer of hope, thanks to a project called DIAN TU that is allowing them to take part in a study of experimental Alzheimer's drugs. The project also could have a huge payoff for society, says Dr. Randall Bateman, a professor of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. "It's highly likely," he says, that the first drug able to prevent or delay Alzheimer's will emerge from studies of people genetically destined to get the disease.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A July 22, 2015 USA Today article reported that “Results from the first of the studies Lilly is using to try to breathe new life into solanezumab suggest that the drug seems to delay the progress of Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages by 34%.”

A July 22, 2015 NBC News article reported that “A drug that combines a cough suppressant with a medication to fight heart arrhythmias might offer some peace for one of the most troubling symptoms of advanced Alzheimer's disease - agitation.”

A July 22, 2015 Forbes article reported on excitement around Axovant’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug RVT-101. According to the article, “On the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), there is a 1.8 point reduction at 48 weeks in the completers analysis, compared to 1 .9 point reduction in the original study. On the Alzheimer’s Disease Co-operative Study – Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL), there is a 2.34 point benefit at 48 weeks, compared to a 2.27 point benefit in the earlier analysis. “The take home message is that they’re very very similar,” says Lawrence Friedhoff, Axovant’s chief development officer.” Read the data release here.