USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An April 20, 2020 The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration listing spotlighted their annual Education Conference webinar series, which will be held online this year, instead of in-person. The conference will feature free webinars on better management of the FTD journey, during the present COVID-19 lockdown. UsAgainstAlzheimer’s advocate the Very Rev. Tracey Lind will present, “The Playlist of My Life: Building a Toolbox for FTD.” Register here for her presentation.

MUST READS

An April 28, 2020 Being Patient article spotlighted Green Valley Pharmaceuticals’ oligomannate, which is available in China to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease. In response to the urgent need for therapies, the FDA approved the drug to move directly into late-stage clinical trials. The seaweed extract works to reduce inflammation in the brain by altering the gut’s microbiome. A new, global trial will enroll more than 2,000 people with mild-to-moderate AD in North America, Europe and Asia. According to the article, “Bloomberg reports that while coronavirus-spurred slowdowns may delay the start of the trial, Green Valley aims to have an FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drug available on the American market by 2025 — which can’t come soon enough, as a global estimate of 44 million people with Alzheimer’s, and their loved ones, await a cure.” 

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

An April 28, 2020 WJAR NBC 10 broadcast segment looked at how Butler Hospital's Memory and Aging program is adapting to seeing patients during the coronavirus crisis. According to program director Dr. Stephen Salloway, "We're starting to do some testing -- actually cognitive testing remotely. People can sign a consent form on line and a lot of the work of a research visit can be done in advance remotely and then we can limit the amount of time that people are here. I think that's going to be carried forward in to the future."

An April 27, 2020 The Motley Fool article spotlighted Axsome Therapeutics’ Advance-1 study of AXS-05, a new experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s-related agitation. The therapy is a combination of two previously approved drugs: the antidepressant bupropion and dextromethorphan, the main ingredient in many cough suppressants. According to the article, “As hoped, patients in the AXS-05 group were significantly less agitated than both control groups without any serious side effects reported. In fact, there were patient deaths in both control groups, but none among those treated with AXS-05.” Also covered by Yahoo! Finance.

ALZ TECH

An April 29, 2020 Globe Newswire release announced that Cogstate received an (up to) $1.3 million award from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation’s (ADDF) Diagnostics Accelerator initiative. The award will help fund the development of early detection of memory impairment and decline testing by adapting the International Shopping List Test (ISLT) for smartphones and tablets. “We know that subtle changes in memory appear long before dementia occurs, and Cogstate’s ISLT memory app project aims at providing early and accurate detection of decline for anyone, regardless of their access to specialized memory clinics. The selection of our memory app project by the ADDF, their external scientific reviewers and Joint Steering Committee is an honor and a testament to the unique scientific and operational excellence Cogstate brings in addressing this major unmet need,” said Cogstate CEO, Brad O’Connor.