Tag Archives: Alzheimer’s

The Associated Press reports: A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one – shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20%. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of …

CNBC reports: The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug donanemab, expanding the limited treatment options for the mind-wasting disease in the U.S. The agency approved the treatment, which will be sold under the brand name Kisunla. Eli Lilly’s drug slowed Alzheimer’s progression by 35% over 18 months compared with a placebo, according to a late-stage …

The New York Times reports: A committee of independent advisers to the FDA voted unanimously on Monday that the benefits outweigh the risks of the newest experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s afflicts more than six million Americans. It has no cure, and there is no treatment or lifestyle modification that can restore memory loss or reverse cognitive decline. The …

Fierce Biotech reports: After more than a year in the works, Roche and Eli Lilly have taken a step closer to delivering their blood test designed to aid in the diagnosis of earlier cases of Alzheimer’s disease. The FDA has granted their work a breakthrough designation to help accelerate its development. Roche’s Elecsys plasma assay searches for and quantifies phosphorylated …

USA Today reports: Owning a pet may help slow cognitive decline among older people who live alone, according to a study published this week. A large cohort study of adults ages 50 and older living in the United Kingdom showed pet owners had less verbal memory and verbal fluency declines compared to people who lived alone without a pet. The …

The New York Times reports: Tony Bennett, a singer whose melodic clarity, jazz-influenced phrasing, audience-embracing persona and warm, deceptively simple interpretations of musical standards helped spread the American songbook around the world and won him generations of fans, died on Friday in New York City. He was 96. In February 2021, his wife, Susan Bennett, told AARP Magazine that Mr. …

NPR reports: The Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease. The action means that Leqembi, whose generic name is lecanemab, should be widely covered by the federal Medicare health insurance program, which primarily serves adults age 65 and older. So more people who are in the early stages of the disease …

Fierce Biotech reports: An HIV drug from GSK or ones like it could have new therapeutic potential against neurodegenerative disease, findings in mice suggest. In a report published April 26 in Neuron, scientists from the University of Cambridge described how they established a link between microglia and autophagy in the etiology of dementia and Huntington’s disease. They also showed that …

The Washington Post reports: An experimental Alzheimer’s drug slowed cognitive and functional decline by 27 percent in a closely watched clinical trial, the sponsors of the medication said Tuesday, increasing the therapy’s chance for approval as soon as early next year. Japanese drugmaker Eisai and its American partner, Biogen, in a news release said the slowing of deterioration, compared with …

The Associated Press reports: COVID-19 infection may significantly boost an older person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new, large-scale study suggests. People 65 and older who contracted COVID were nearly 70% more likely overall to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within a year of their infection, researchers report. The elderly fared even worse, with the risk of Alzheimer’s doubling in …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Cassava Sciences Inc involving whether the biotech company manipulated research results for its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, two people familiar with the inquiry said. The Justice Department personnel conducting the investigation into Austin, Texas-based Cassava specialize in examining whether companies or individuals have misled or defrauded investors, government agencies …

The Daily Beast reports: In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers led by neuroscientists at Yale University uncovered an experimental drug taken orally that appears to reverse brain damage in mice afflicted by Alzheimer’s, and could protect the brain from future damage for at least one month. If its success and remarkable …

Science Alert reports: Usage of the medication sildenafil – better known to most as the brand-name drug Viagra – is associated with dramatically reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests. According to a study led by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, taking sildenafil is tied to a nearly 70 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to non-users. That’s …

Axios reports: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, told me during an “Axios on HBO” interview that he favors cognition tests for aging leaders of all three branches of government. Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, told me during our wide-ranging interview in Chalmette, La., that in your 80s, you begin a “rapid decline.” Noting he wasn’t talking about specific people, Cassidy said: …

Reuters reports: The rollout of Biogen Inc’s Alzheimer’s drug is hitting new roadblocks as some large hospitals decide not to use it and many health insurers await coverage terms from Medicare, the U.S. health plan for people aged 65 and older, before setting their own policies. Cleveland Clinic, one of the country’s best-known health systems, and New York’s Mount Sinai …

The Washington Post reports: The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday limited the recommended use of a controversial new Alzheimer’s drug to patients with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia from the disease — a major change from the original label that included everyone with the illness. The revised label clarifies that the drug, called Aduhelm, is intended for patients …

CNBC reports: Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos told CNBC on Monday that the list price of $56,000 per year for the company’s FDA-approved Alzheimer’s disease drug aducanumab is “fair.” That being said, the Massachusetts-based biotech company has vowed to not increase the price of the medication, which is marketed under the name Aduhelm, for the next four years, Vounatsos said. The …

CNBC reports: The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Biogen Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab, making it the first drug cleared by U.S. regulators to slow cognitive decline in people living with Alzheimer’s and the first new medicine for the disease in nearly two decades. The FDA’s decision was highly anticipated. The drug, which is marketed under the name Aduhelm, is …

The New York Times reports: The Food and Drug Administration is on the verge of announcing one of its most contentious decisions in years: the fate of an Alzheimer’s drug that could be the first treatment approved after nearly two decades of failed efforts to find ways to curb the debilitating disease. On Monday, the agency will rule on the …

AARP Magazine reports: Tony Bennett has Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia. Alzheimer’s is characterized by a progressive memory loss that robs its sufferers of many of the gifts that we all take for granted — speech, understanding, treasured memories, recognition of loved ones — and leaves them utterly dependent on caregivers. Although he can still recognize …