MUST READS 

An April 12, 2016 Wayne County Journal-Banner article highlighted the Brain Health Registry’s efforts to advance Alzheimer’s research. According to the article, “One of the easiest ways to participate in a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease is through a health care registry, which matches individuals to clinical trials. The Internet-based, free national Brain Health Registry launched in 2014 is one such registry. With 40,000 current members, its goal is to double the number in 2016…Once volunteers are registered on the site, they complete questionnaires about basic demographics, health, lifestyle and medical history, along with cognitive tests and a consent form on the Brain Health Registry website, www.join.brainhealthregistry.org.”

An April 12, 2016 New York Post article highlighted a PBS NOVA documentary airing tonight at 9PM EST about the race to develop an effective Alzheimer’s treatment. According to the article, “The hourlong “NOVA” documentary focuses on one such drug made by biotech company Genentech, which launched a clinical trial on families in Colombia who carry a rare genetic mutation that causes them to get early-onset Alzheimer’s by age 45…Although the results of the five-year clinical trial in Colombia won’t be known until 2020, a similar Genentech trial featured in the documentary on people with the more common form of mild or moderate Alzheimer’s offered only limited encouragement. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly & Co. is testing a drug on patients with very mild Alzheimer’s, with results to be revealed in October, Holt says.”

An April 12, 2016 ThinkProgress.org blog post reported on the low wages earned by nursing assistants and eldercare workers. According to the post, “White is part of a workforce that is increasingly in demand but consistently underpaid: those working in nursing homes caring for the elderly and disabled. According to a new report from the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) shared with ThinkProgress, nursing assistants earn just $11.51 at the median — meaning half of the 650,000-strong workforce makes less than that. The national median wage, on the other hand, is over $17 an hour. And things have gotten worse over the years, not better. Adjusted for inflation, nursing assistants’ wages have fallen 7 percent over the last decade…Those challenges couldn’t come at a worse time. There’s already 1.3 million people living in nursing homes today, and the populations that are most likely to need that care are set to grow exponentially. Americans over the age of 85, who are most likely to suffer from diseases like Alzheimer’s and need nursing home care, are projected to nearly triple in number over the next three decades. The current ratio of people ages 45 to 64 who could care for each adult over the age of 80 is expected to drop from its current level of seven caregivers to one elderly person to a low of three to one by 2050, necessitating far more assistance for people in old age.”

An April 11, 2016 Indianapolis Business Journal article reported that Eli Lilly and partner AstraZeneca are moving an oral drug called AZD3293 into “late-stage clinical trials without modification on the recommendation of an independent data monitoring committee, following a positive interim safety analysis.”

INTERESTING READS FROM AROUND THE WEB

Healthcare Informatics: Intel’s Dishman to lead Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program

The New York Times: People Who Avoided Illness Could Be Key in Treating Those Who Didn’t