USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

An April 6, 2016 The Hill opinion piece by Dr. Dave Morgan and George Vradenburg underscored the need to prepare the nation’s healthcare system for “the promising Alzheimer’s drug pipeline.” According to the authors, “According to an analysis recently released by ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer’s, a network of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, it is eminently possible that 17 drugs in Phase 3 clinical trials could be ready to reach the marketplace during the next five years. After decades of frustration in laboratories around the world, we may be on the verge of a major assault against a disease that afflicts over five million Americans with a new case occurring every 67 seconds (and that doesn’t even take into consideration the enormous emotional, physical and financial toll this devastating illness takes on millions of family members and caregivers). But here’s the $200 billion (the approximate medical costs in the United States from Alzheimer’s and dementia) question: If an effective new Alzheimer’s treatment is approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the next five years, will we be ready to deliver it to every individual who can benefit from it? As of right now, the answer is a distressing NO, but we have time to correct our course and take the steps necessary to avoid an infant incubator reprise.” Morgan, a distinguished professor of the College of Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida, and CEO of the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, and George Vradenburg, co-founder and chairman of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.

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An April 5, 2016 The Hill article highlighted David Hyde Pierce’s Alzheimer’s advocacy. Accordion to the article, “The “Frasier” star, 57, is poised to testify before the Senate Aging Committee on Wednesday afternoon at a Dirksen Senate Office Building hearing focusing on Alzheimer’s disease.”

An April 5, 2016 Herald Tribune article examined the question “What if you could know you’ll get Alzheimer’s?” According to the article, “Reiswig knows that if he has the gene, he has perhaps a bit more than a decade before symptoms appear. If he has it, his two young children may have it, too. “Sometimes I think, ‘This is a terrible storm on the horizon that could absolutely devastate us, and I want to know if it is real or not,'” he said. “Other times I say, ‘Gosh, if I do find out that it is real and I know I will die that way and I know probably the age I will die — that is an almost unbearable amount of information about my future.’ People say you could go sky diving or ride a bull. But you can only do things like that as long as time and income provide. You still have to get up in the morning and go to work and pay your bills.””

An April 5, 2016 CNBC article highlighted the potential that robots hold for dementia care. According to the article, “Elderly, isolated patients can be hard to reach, especially if they're suffering from dementia…Researchers discovered that interacting with a therapy robot called Paro had a calming effect on 60 percent of residents who typically displayed anxious behaviors, according to a study released by Front Porch, a nonprofit specializing in retirement communities.”

An April 5, 2016 Philadelphia Business Journal article reported that “Philanthropists Vickie and Jack Farber are donating $20 million to Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health to strengthen the neuroscience institute that already bears their name.” According to the article, “The gift brings to $35 million the Farbers’ total philanthropy to Jefferson. “For three decades, Vickie and Jack Farber have been inspiring Jefferson to reimagine how we research and care for neurological conditions, and this incredible gift will help us usher in a new era of hope for treatments and preventative therapies — maybe even cures — for ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other life-robbing brain diseases,” said Dr. Stephen K. Klasko, president and CEO of Jefferson.”