September 13, 2019

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

In a September 11, 2019 Medical Express article, University of Bristol researchers looked at treating memory loss with calcium channel blockers (of the L-type channel). If brain cells are diseased, they can become overloaded with calcium ions, disrupting memory formation. “Memory loss in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a highly distressing and difficult to treat symptom. Targeting the early changes in brain cell function—before they begin to degenerate—may be effective in treating memory loss. L-type channels have been thought to have a role in AD for some time and this study shows a direct link between memory loss and L-type channel overproduction in brain cells,” said Dr. James Hodge.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

A September 12, 2019 Los Angeles Times letter to the editor by a West Hollywood resident thanked Rep. Adam Schiff (Burbank) for his dedication to drawing awareness to Alzheimer’s disease. Schiff has AD in his family and considers it a public health crisis. He supports increased funding for the NIH, and is co-sponsoring the Improving Hope for Alzheimer’s Act and the Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Act.

CAREGIVING CORNER

A September 11, 2019 Healthline article gave advice for people caring for parents with Alzheimer’s disease, acknowledging the potential for complex emotions. Such role reversal can be especially challenging for relationships complicated by conflict, estrangement or distance. According to the article, “[Tom] Meuser [PhD, of the University of New England] points out that there is a point in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease where the person has undergone psychosocial death — meaning who they have largely been most of their life is absent… “Forgetting children or spouses is a hallmark of psychosocial death. The body is there but the person is radically different. That is often a trigger for grief and loss, more so than bodily death in advanced dementia,” he said.”

CLINICAL TRIAL SPOTLIGHT

According to a September 9, 2019 Yahoo! Finance article, PTI-125, developed by Cassava Sciences for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, achieved positive top-line clinical results in its Phase 2a study. Treatment with the drug for 28 days reduced AD biomarker pathology, including neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. “To our knowledge, no other drug has shown such promising results on objective, validated biomarkers of disease,” said Nadav Friedmann, MD, PhD of Cassava.

EVENTS AND RESOURCES

Register for The New York Academy of Sciences’ “Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutics: Alternatives to Amyloid 2019” conference. November 20, 2019 in New York City. The gathering will focus on the growing interest in non-amyloid drug targets including neuro-inflammation, bioenergetics, epigenetics, protein homeostasis and other alternative pathways.