USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A January 21, 2016 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s press statement announced that Axovant Sciences today announced a national educational campaign about the importance of participation in clinical trials of new drugs for treating Alzheimer’s disease. The “Huddle Up for Alzheimer’s Treatments” campaign involves a partnership with NFL Broadcaster Solomon Wilcots and patient advocacy groups — including AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer’s — and avideo that features Stephanie Monroe, our Network's Director.

A January 21, 2016 DC CityBizList article highlighted the partnership between the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation and the Brain Health Registry. According to the article, “Global Alzheimer’s Platform, headquartered in Washington, D.C., was launched in 2014 by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s disease. The organization’s goal is to reduce the duration (by up to two years), the cost and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, and turn Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers into survivors. Executing on this vision, Global Alzheimer’s Platform is now working with multiple organizations, beginning with the Brain Health Registry, to build an integrated global clinical trial network with a pool of individuals ready, willing and able to enter clinical trials. Brain Health Registry is a free web-based effort led by researchers at UCSF designed to more quickly identify appropriate clinical trial candidates and speed the path to cures for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders.”

MUST READS

Must Watch: A January 21, 2016 Today Show broadcast segment featured B. Smith and Dan Gasby. According to the description, “B. Smith and Dan Gasby are out with their new book "Before I Forget," which details their struggles with Alzheimer's. It's part memoir and part caregiver's guide with practical and helpful advice on how best to deal with the day-to-day challenges, family realities and tensions, ways of coping, and coming scientific research that may tip the scale. TODAY's Al Roker speaks with B. Smith and Dan Gasby about the book.”

A January 21, 2016 Del Dorado Springs Sun opinion piece by Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) provided perspective on President Obama’s last State of the Union speech, including the need to fight Alzheimer’s. Accordion to Hartzler, “He announced the creation of an initiative to find a cure for cancer. Comparing this to Kennedy’s space program, the President aims to spark American innovation and research to achieve what is seemingly unachievable—to “land a man on the moon” by curing cancer. We can all agree cancer has taken too many of our loved ones from us and something needs to be done. It doesn’t end there. I would like to extend this surge to include other illnesses, Alzheimer’s for one, that are growing problems amongst us.”

A January 21, 2016 AlzForum article reported that research from the Weizmann Institute of Science finds that a cancer drug clears plaque and improves memory functions in mice. According to the article, “Could an FDA-approved drug that trains the immune system on tumors benefit the brain? According to a report in the January 18 Nature Medicine, an antibody that boosts the cancer-fighting ability of T cells also prods them to issue a rallying cry that calls peripheral macrophages to the central nervous system. Scientists led by Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, report that these immune cells then clear Aβ plaques and improve memory in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.”

A January 21, 2016 The Wall Street Journal article reported on the link between Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “As people with Down syndrome live longer, they are increasingly grappling with a problem of aging—Alzheimer’s disease. New efforts are under way to address the challenges, including a push to find early changes in the blood or brain associated with Alzheimer’s, research into a possible vaccine, and the building of new homes to provide specialized care.”