USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An October 6, 2017 CISION PR Newswire post reported that the Cure Alzheimer's Fund is dedicating $500,000 in memory of UsAgainstAlzheimer's Co-Founder Trish Vradenburg. According to George Vradenburg, Trish’s husband, and Co-Founder and Chairman of UsA2, "I'm deeply grateful to Cure Alzheimer's Fund for this major contribution to women's Alzheimer's research and immensely honored that they have done so in Trish's name. Two-thirds of those dying with Alzheimer's are women and one in six women aged 65 and over will develop the disease."

MUST READS

An October 10, 2017 Wired article looked at scientists at the Center for Translational Imaging and Precision Medicine at UC San Diego who are developing an Alzheimer’s test, a polygenic hazard score, that calculates how more than two dozen genetic variants act together to increase or decrease the risk of developing AD. In a few months, it will be commercially available via spit kit. About 10 percent of the US population is expected to develop Alzheimer’s by mid-century.

An October 9, 2017 Huffington Post article focused on the coming “Alzheimer’s tsunami,” which is projected to afflict an estimated 7.1 million Americans age 65 and older by 2025, unless a cure is found. Many states are likely to slash Medicaid funding, the only government program that pays for nursing home care, if Congress passes Affordable Care Act repeal legislation. Medicaid also covers some services that allow AD patients to stay in their homes.

An October 6, 2017 Huffington Post contribution from members of the American Psychiatric Association, American Nurses Association, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers highlights the need to protect people with with preexisting conditions, and older adults with Alzheimer’s dementia and other cognitive impairments. People with AD need a well-trained healthcare team, Medicaid protections, and for Congress to reauthorize the Geriatrics Workforce and Caregiver Enhancement Act which funds the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP).

MUST LISTEN

In a September 29, 2017 MPR News audio segment, host Kerri Miller spoke with three leading Alzheimer’s disease experts about the new frontier of Alzheimer's research and the best avenues for prevention. Dr. Ron Petersen of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Phyllis Ferrell from Lilly BioMedicines, and Dr. Michael Rosenbloom of the Center for Memory & Aging at the University of Minnesota all joined the conversation.

INDUSTRY UPDATE

An October 8, 2017 Business Insider article looked at the state of Alzheimer’s disease drug trials, citing 2017 as a particularly tough year. Four drugs have been approved to treat the symptoms of AD, the most recent in 2003. There are more than a dozen experimental treatments currently in phase 3.