October 21, 2016

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Must Watch: Miss the UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Summit? Be sure to check out highlights from the three days of empowering and action forcing discussions. Watch here.

An October 20, 2016 Benzinga.com post announced that “Two companies dedicated to empowering people living with Alzheimer's, their caregivers, and those worried about getting the disease, today announced a unique partnership with GALAXY, an online portal that offers mobile tools and resources that make it easy for patients to influence and participate in Alzheimer's disease research.” According to Galaxy platform lead Meryl Comer, “We see the inclusion of Antidote and Roobrik on the GALAXY platform as a critical solution and way to fast-track the process of recruiting the right patient for the right trial.” 


MUST READS

An October 20 2016 Medical Xpress article reported that University of Pennsylvania physicians are urging for an update to the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) to put in place a strategy “to determine whether the interventions [Alzheimer’s] being studied today have a so-called "meaningful" clinical benefit for patients.” According to the article, “To determine if the interventions being tested in trials have a clinical benefit, three questions should be asked, the authors wrote: Is there a slowing of the trajectory of cognitive decline after the onset of dementia? Does treatment lead to a lengthening of the mild or severe stages of dementia? Does treatment delay death and, if so, is treatment associated with compression or expansion of the time living with dementia?”

An October 20, 2016 Science Magazine article highlighted “science lessons for the next president,” including the importance of taking on brain diseases like Alzheimer's. According to the article, “The new president will have to plan for a ramp-up in spending on care for elderly people with brain disease, and decide how high a priority to place on spending for brain research…At the same time, advocacy groups are pushing for expanded spending on research into maladies from pediatric brain cancer to Alzheimer's disease. Funding for Alzheimer's grew by some $350 million in 2016, and Congress may dole out at least as big an increase in the coming year. “

An October 20, 2016 UPI.com article reported that “Researchers at the University of Vienna have discovered new details about how cells dispose of waste products in a new study.” According to the article, “Researchers went on to say their findings may be beneficial for developing better treatments for a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer's disease or cancer.”