February 23, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Sign-up for today’s Alz Talks with Dr. Nathan Rose, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Learn about the use of MRI technology to “watch memories” being formed. The hope is that this research will find ways to help us retain more information, or even to activate the brain to retrieve lost memories.

A February 22, 2017 Alzheimer’s News Today article reported that Merck continues its Phase 3 APECS study of verubecestat, even as its Phase 2 trial of the same drug failed. The APECS study looks at effects of the drug on patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s, when the very earliest symptoms appear. “The spirited work of Merck and other drug companies that are concentrating vast resources into a cure for Alzheimer’s is not underappreciated,” George Vradenburg, Co-Founder and Chairman of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, said in a news release. Each outcome, some of which are “assuredly disheartening, builds our knowledge and leads us closer to a solution for the millions of people with Alzheimer’s or related dementias,” he said.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Richard Hodes, of the National Institute on Aging/NIH, talks to the World Economic Forum about the global challenge of Alzheimer's disease. He is optimistic that the growing understanding of genetic markers will lead to more effective interventions. If you live to 85, you currently have about a one-in-two chance of developing Alzheimer’s. And with an aging global population, that means the number of people with Alzheimer’s will double every 20 years.

NDUSTRY UPDATES

A February 22, 2017 Bioscience article reported that PharNext SA, a French biopharmaceutical company, is cutting five years off the drug development process using their new R&D paradigm, PLEOTHERAPY, which identifies new indications for novel combinations of off-patent drugs at low doses. PLEOTHERAPY is based on genomics and other data that is analyzed to create a complex biological disease network, an inventory of potential therapeutic targets and drugs that might act on these targets. PharNext has completed a Phase 2a study for Alzheimer’s disease. Repositioning and combining drugs in a systematic way is new to the pharma industry, and it takes about one year to build a complex molecular network of the disease, which then identifies which targets might have an effect with potential drugs. “So we select the combination based on several factors, the first one being the potential safety profile, but also the intellectual property that is available for these molecules,” said Xavier Paoli, Chief Commercial Officer and Vice-President, R&D operations. Typical drug development takes around 15 years, but PLEOTHERAPY can cut the time down to 10 years.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

A February 23, 2017 India.com article reported that awareness about dementia is very low in India and only about 10% of people with the disease are diagnosed. All over the world, dementia is seen as a normal part of aging, not a disease. “It’s still pretty hidden, because its stigmatized. People are just not seeking help,” said Nori Graham, Vice-President of UK-based Alzheimer’s Disease International and Alzheimer’s Society in England.