USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An October 12, 2015 Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease statement announced that “Axovant Sciences will join the CEOi as part of its ongoing effort to advance innovations and solutions in Alzheimer’s drug development and care delivery.” According to George Vradenburg, Convener of the CEOi and Chairman of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, “Axovant is at the forefront of Alzheimer’s drug development and is deeply involved in bringing new solutions to patients. I’m so pleased that they have joined us in partnering globally with governments and researchers in the fight against this dreadful disease.”

An October 12, 2015 CNN article highlighted ActivistsAgainstAlzheimer’s member Sandy Halperin and his fight against Alzheimer’s as a patient advocate. According to the article, “As best as he can, Sandy remains active and social -- dining with other residents at his retirement village and taking twilight walks and pre-dawn swims to try and delay, at least for a while, the symptoms of his disease. He also became a fervent activist -- giving talks about stigma, lobbying Congress -- and has a Linkedin network of Alzheimer's patients, advocates and physicians numbering nearly 10,000. ‘My focus is to help break the thinking that the patient that has Alzheimer's is sitting in a nursing home,’ he says, the passion building in his voice. ‘I’m alive. I can still be proactive.’” 

MUST READS

An October 11, 2015 The Washington Post article highlighted the new education secretary John B. King Jr.’s connection to Alzheimer’s disease. According to the article, “The nation’s next education secretary is a man driven by what might have been had he not found refuge in public schools. John B. King Jr.’s mother died of a heart attack when he was 8, and then his father descended into Alzheimer’s disease, leaving King an orphan at age 12. He moved around a lot, staying with relatives. School became the safest, most stable and most nurturing place he knew.” 

An October 9, 2015 The Bulletin article reported that “More than one out of every four Americans — 27.9 percent of the population — will be 60 or older by the year 2050.”

An October 9, 2015 Bisnow article highlighted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Newt Gingrich’s commitment to medical research funding to defeat diseases like Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “Warren pointed out that the fastest-growing age group in the country is over 100. (The next fastest-growing is over 90, then over 80, she says.) This year, the country will spend $225B in care for people with Alzheimer's, ‘without the ability to delay onset for even one day.’”

CAREGIVING 

An October 10, 2015 Indianapolis Business Journal article highlighted a novel approach to Alzheimer’s care. According to the article, “Johnston, 66, is one example of how Boustani and the 26-person team he leads at Eskenazi are defying the conventional wisdom about Alzheimer’s disease and other kinds of dementia—that there is no effective treatment. Instead, they have shown that their approach to health care—which uses a team of staff members to regularly check in with patients and keep them on their regimens—can improve the mental health of both dementia patients and their care givers. It could also save billions for the health care system at large.”

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY

An October 10, 2015 The Gainesville Sun article reported on the efforts of the Florida’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, including a focus on Hispanic research. According to the article, “Some of that research is being conducted through a newly formed network of Florida institutions that, collectively, make up what's known as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Through this center, researchers hope to analyze behavioral data collected from Alzheimer’s patients and later study how the disease affected the condition of their brains…The study will be groundbreaking because so little has been done about why Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to develop Alzheimer’s, Duara said. Eight percent to 9 percent of white people older than 65 will develop Alzheimer’s symptoms, while 13 percent to 15 percent of Hispanics will. Also, for reasons still undetermined, the disease tends to progress more slowly in Hispanics than it does for others.”

An October 9, 2015 BioMed Central article reported that “INCF and OECD brought together policy-makers, funders, scientists and publishers to consider the barriers to data sharing in relation to dementia research and identify practical steps to promote data sharing in this field.”