USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A February 3, 2020 The Conway Daily Sun article featured Norma Bostarr, Founding Member of The Youth Movement Against Alzheimer’s (YMAA), who traveled from her home in California to ask presidential candidates what they plan to do about Alzheimer’s disease. Bostarr caught-up with candidate Deval Patrick at the Gibson Center for Senior Services (NH). According to the article, “Bostarr... recorded Patrick’s comments for the group’s website, theyouthmovement.org. Saying his family has been touched by Alzheimer’s, Patrick also talked about the work he did as governor to help family members who find themselves in care-giving situations. He said it is the sort of work that can be helped by his Democracy Agenda plan for national service as well as other service programs.” YMAA is an UsAgainstAlzheimer’s coalition partner.

HUMAN INTEREST

A February 5, 2020 Los Angeles Times article reported that the late, legendary actor Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne donated $15 million to build a new Motion Picture & Television Fund memory-care unit for people with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. The center will open soon. Douglas “…Wanted to create an Alzheimer’s unit that was a “wonderful, caring, compassionate place where the person afflicted could live, but also where a family member would feel comfortable leaving their family member to live.””

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A February 6, 2020 USC News article spotlighted the AHEAD 3-45 Study, a public-private partnership testing BAN2401 for the prevention or treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Delivered intravenously, the drug is designed to bind to beta amyloid and neutralize it, so it can be cleared-away from the brain. “Our study will determine the impact of amyloid removal on cognitive decline and biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease when administered to people who do not yet have substantial, irreversible damage from Alzheimer’s,” said Paul Aisen of USC’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute. The trial is part of the NIH-funded ACTC (Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium). 

FINANCES

A February 5, 2020 Yahoo! Finance article took a closer look at Biogen, 2020’s top performing large-cap U.S. health stock. The stock rallied this week but the future remains in question. According to the article, “The next key catalysts for investors is whether or not U.S. regulators will accept a filing for that Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab, and if it will get priority review status. The company is on pace to deliver a filing for the drug candidate sometime before the end of March.”