December 10, 2015

Today's Top News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

December 10, 2015 Nautilus video segment and article profiled the story of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s patient advocate Greg O’Brien and his efforts to document his journey with Alzheimer’s. According to O’Brien, “When I sat down to write my own story, in my book, On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s, my purpose was to offer a blueprint of strategies, faith, and humor, a day-to-day focus on living with Alzheimer’s, not dying with it—a hope that all is not lost when it appears to be. I was with my mother in the nursing home when she passed away, and told her moments before she died, “Mom, we’re riding this one out together.” She had always taught me to confront the demons in life.”

 


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A December 9, 2015 Time.com article profiled Helen and Dick Pell and their worries about the rising costs of dementia care. According to the article, “Now, four years after Helen was diagnosed with dementia, she’s physically robust, but her mental abilities have declined. Unable to remember incidents that happened only moments earlier, she still has a sense of humor, says Richard, “but only in the immediate.” She can get lost in her own home. She no longer remembers how to use a toaster or a light switch…’The financing of her care is a constant worry,’ he says.”

A December 9, 2015 Project Syndicate opinion piece by Edward Jung and Andrew Lo underscored the need to develop new funding mechanisms for drug development. According to the authors, “Traditional models for funding drug development are faltering. In the US and many other developed countries, the average cost of bringing a new drug to market has skyrocketed, even as patents on some of the industry’s most profitable drugs have expired. Venture capital has pulled back from early-stage life-sciences companies, and big pharmaceutical companies have seen fewer drugs reach the market per dollar spent on research and development…Development of Alzheimers’ therapies, for example, is unlikely to benefit from the megafund model…Ushering a drug from lab bench to bedside requires investing vast sums of money over long horizons. That funding must pay off for both society and investors. Emerging countries can lead the world to better health and greater wealth by pioneering new ways to finance drug development.” Edward Jung, former Chief Architect at Microsoft, is Chief Technology Officer at Intellectual Ventures and Andrew W. Lo is Professor of Finance and Director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

A December 9, 2015 MedScape.com article reported that the Banner Alzheimer's Institute has launched “GeneMatch, a program designed to identify volunteers willing to take part in Alzheimer's disease research on the basis of their apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE-ε4) genetic status and other risk factors.”

A December 9, 2015 U.S. News & World Report article highlighted “7 Tech Advances That Will Change Seniors' Lives.” According to the article, “From shoes that prevent you from falling to shirts that perform CPR, these gadgets will make life healthier for future retirees.”