USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A December 4, 2016 The Doctors Weighs In article by by Dr. Patricia Salber, M.D. highlighted the Lausanne III dialogues, convened by the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease (CEOi). According to Dr. Salber, “The goal of the meeting was to increase understanding and collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare regulators, and payers. I was one of the participants on the Payer panel. Other participants included high-level governmental agency directors, regulators—including a former director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Alzheimer’s researchers, representatives from pharmaceutical companies with Alzheimer’s drugs in various stages of development, and, most importantly, people living with Alzheimer’s.”

A November 30, 2016 Huffington Post opinion piece by British Robinson and Jill Lesser underscored the importance of “prioritizing sex-based research in heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.” According to the authors, “Sex-based research could also lead to breakthroughs in areas we’re just beginning to understand, sharpening our ability to combat heart disease and Alzheimer’s simultaneously. That’s because some of the same brain regions that regulate our response to stress and cardiac tone are also implicated in memory function. The brain and the heart are connected through nerves, hormones and immune regulatory pathways, and, as pioneering medical researchers have shown, sex differences are critical in understanding how these pathways develop.” Jill Lesser is President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s and British Robinson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Heart Alliance.

MUST READS 

A December 4, 2016 Miami Herald opinion piece by Jennifer Braisted underscored the importance of the 21st Century Cures Act and urged Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio to support the Act. According to Braisted, “Cures would include funding for the BRAIN Initiative which will improve our understanding of Alzheimer’s and the Eureka Act which would encourage private-public partnerships to award a prize for accomplishments in the field of Alzheimer’s research.”

A December 3, 2016 The Hill article highlighted President Obama’s support of “the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill that would potentially expedite Alzheimer's and cancer research in the near future.” According to President Obama, “There’s a bill in Congress that could help unlock cures Alzheimer’s, end cancer as we know it, and help people seeking treatment for opioid addiction finally get the help they need. It’s called the 21st Century Cures Act. It’s an opportunity to save lives, and an opportunity we just can’t miss.”

A December 3, 2016 Indianapolis Business Journal article highlighted Lilly’s renewed determination after news that its Alzheimer’s treatment solanezumab failed in phase III clinical trials. According to Phyllis Ferrell, Lilly’s global Alzheimer’s platform leader, “Someone who has to get up every day and face this disease, either because they’re losing themselves or they’re losing loved ones—they don’t have the opportunity to quit, so we don’t, either…For those of us who really feel like this is a calling, you get right back up the next day, and you have to figure out what went wrong. Because in figuring out what went wrong, you have the ability to make it better the next time.”

A December 2, 2016 Medical News Today article reported that “Now, using a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, researchers discover a link between early bone loss and brain degeneration that may begin to address this need.” According to the article, “Their study is important because it identifies alterations that appear to occur in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and because they affect bone, may offer a biomarker for earlier detection that does not involve examining the brain.”