September 26, 2019
Rick Earl Abel, Kansas City Globe
Sharpton Blends Civil Rights Struggle with Disparaging Access to Health Care
Al Sharpton delivers the keynote address for the Black Health Care Coalition, speaking out against the health care of black people and specifically Alzheimer’s. Turning his attention to the upcoming 2020 election, Sharpton says “All of the candidates running for President of the United States have health plans and should be focusing to eliminate the disparity that causes minorities to face more challenges. There is more we can do in this country to encourage our leaders to use the platforms available to achieve a greater more practical approach to achieve better health.” Focusing on the disparities in health care he urges his audience to discuss health care concerns that can shorten the lives of African Americans “just as quickly as can the less subtle forms of racial prejudice”.
The full article is available with an online subscription to the Globe digital edition, which you can purchase here.
September 20, 2019
Mike Peticca, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Alzheimer’s impact is a societal and economic issue, health advocate says
USAgainstAlzheimer’s chairman and co-founder George Vradenburg discusses the emotional and economic toll Alzheimer’s has on society as a whole and criticizes that lack of urgency by our political leaders in their willingness to address this health crisis. “The cost of dementia to the world today exceeds 1 percent of total global economic activity. In the United States, the cost of dementia will be comparable to the defense budget in the coming decades,” adding that “Government leadership here and abroad does not understand the scope and overall impact of Alzheimer’s on their societies.”
Read the full article here.
July 22, 2019
Mike Peticca, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Volunteers needed for Northeast Ohio Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials
There are currently 5.8 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s which is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. Clinical trials are vital to understanding the disease and finding a cure. Finding volunteers can be difficult however “it is impossible to discover a cure if we con’t complete the clinical trials that are required to discover therapy,” John Dwyer, Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation President says. “It is essential that these trials recruit enough participants to scientifically show the proposed theory is safe and effective.”
Click here to find out more.
July 20. 2019
Vital Signs
Two RSF Research and Innovation Center patients honored as Citizen Scientist Award nominees
Two Alzheimer’s clinical trial patients were nominated for the Citizen Scientist Awards® recognizing their clinical trial participation and dedication to helping find a cure. The awards are designed to broaden awareness of the benefits of clinical research for current and future generations and increase involvement of under-represented groups in research.
Click here to read more.
June 25, 2019
Jaimie Oh, Daily Herald
Advocate recognizes Alzheimer’s patients, care partners
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Advocate Research Institute honor patients with Alzheimer’s and their care partners for their participation in clinical trials to help find a cure for the disease.
Read more here.
June 20, 2019
Steve MacNaull, Kelowna Daily Courier
Alzheimer’s patients saluted for dedication to drug trials
There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s so the race is on to discover a cure or at least slow the symptoms of the disease. Clinical trials with willing and dedicated participants are doing their part to help.
Read the article here.
June 13, 2019
Robert Herriman, Outbreak News Today
Alzheimer’s disease: Risk factors, treatments and more
A podcast discussing Alzheimer’s disease – research, risk prevention, and other related topics. Robert Herriman is joined by Phil Sabel, M.A., the Clinical Research Coordinator at Axiom Clinical Research in Tampa.
Click here to listen.
June 6, 2019
Molly Langmuir, ELLE
Is an Alzheimer’s Cure on the Horizon?
While Alzheimer’s is better understood today than in the past, no effective treatments for the disease have yet been found. One major challenge facing Alzheimer’s drug trials is finding participants. As GAP President John Dwyer says, “The biggest problem is that people are not aware of clinical trials. The fact is, the first person to be cured of Alzheimer’s will be in a clinical trial. It won’t randomly happen.”
Read the full story here.
May 3, 2019
AzBusiness
2019 Healthcare Innovator of the Year
Dr. Anna Burke is recognized as the 2019 Healthcare Innovator of the Year for her work in treating the behavioral and psychiatric disturbances that result from Alzheimer’s disease as well as her work building a community outreach program in the Phoenix area to teach people about brain health, Alzheimer’s, and clinical research.
See pg. 85 of the May-June 2019 issue of AZBusiness to read more here.
April 19, 2019
George Vradenburg & John Dwyer, Morning Consult
When It Comes to Alzheimer’s, Important Changes Are Coming for MA Beneficiaries
In a joint op-ed with George Vradenburg, co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, GAP President John Dwyer argues that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken an important first step towards improving our health care system’s ability to address Alzheimer’s. By authorizing significant payments for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with a diagnosis of dementia, CMS has created a powerful financial incentive for early assessment and diagnosis of dementia.
Read the full op-ed here.
April 9, 2019
Ed Miseta, Clinical Leader
Alzheimer’s Disease Trials: Where Do We Go From Here?
While the Alzheimer’s clinical trials field has seen setbacks recently in studies targeting the elimination of amyloid beta plaques, GAP is pressing full speed ahead towards an Alzheimer’s cure by accelerating current trials, streamlining the trial startup process, and boosting trial recruitment efforts.
Read the full story here.
March 26, 2019
Tony Dearing, NJ.com
8 ways to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s (and maybe help researchers find a cure faster)
The Acti-v8 Your Brain initiative provides eight ways in which people can make positive lifestyle changes to improve their brain health. This article puts special focus on pillar #8 (participating in Alzheimer’s clinical trials).
Read the full story here.
March 22, 2019
Andy Telli, Tennessee Register
Ryan Grad Working to Speed Research into Alzheimer’s Cure
Nashville’s largest Catholic newspaper profiled John Dwyer, president of GAP and 1974 graduate of Father Ryan High School, a Catholic school in Nashville. The article covers GAP’s initiatives and quotes Linda Schipani, president and CEO for Clinical Research Associates in Nashville (a GAP-Net site).
Read the full article here.
March 21, 2019
Pat McCaffrey, Alzforum
In Year Three, GAP Trial Network Is Starting to Hum
This two-part feature covers the 2019 GAP-Net Site Optimization Conference and the many ways in which GAP is bringing its patient-centered, business-oriented approach to improve Alzheimer’s clinical trials. Representatives from several GAP-Net sites are quoted and mentioned in the piece, which details GAP’s effort to boost recruitment and unclog procedural bottlenecks, as well as its partnership with Lyft aimed at making it easier for volunteers to access clinical trials.
Read the full piece here.
March 12, 2019
Cindy Sanders, the Nashville Medical News
Addressing the GAPs in Alzheimer’s Trials, Treatment
In addition to covering the GAP-Net Site Optimization Conference, which took place in Nashville February 27 – March 1, the Nashville Medical News highlighted GAP’s efforts to speed and improve Alzheimer’s clinical trials through better administrative practices, a common IRB, and other disruptive tactics. The piece highlights two GAP-Net sites in Nashville: Clinical Research Associates and the Center for Cognitive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Read the full article here.
March 11, 2019
Richard J. Caselli, MD, Clinical Neurology News
Boosting Alzheimer’s trial participation via Medicare Advantage “memory fitness programs”
This Clinical Neurology News story discusses GAP’s efforts to support and collaborate with “memory fitness programs” through select Medicare Advantage plans to encourage higher participation in Alzheimer’s clinical trials.
Read the full story here.
February 26, 2019
Dr. Paul Newhouse and John Dwyer, Jr., The Tennessean
A cure for Alzheimer’s is not possible without you
GAP President John Dwyer and Dr. Paul Newhouse, director of the GAP-Net site Center for Cognitive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), published an op-ed speaking to the importance of clinical trial participation in the fight to end Alzheimer’s. The piece, which highlights VUMC’s Alzheimer’s clinical trials, ran just before the 2nd annual GAP-Net Site Optimization Conference in Nashville, which gathered GAP-Net researchers and clinical trial recruiters, CEOs, clinical trial sponsors, and GAP staff to share strategies for speeding and improving clinical trials.
Read the full article online here.
July 23, 2018
Gina Kolata, The New York Times
For Scientists Racing to Cure Alzheimer’s, the Math Is Getting Ugly
A July 23, 2018 New York Times article reported on a new and groundbreaking Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s disease clinical trial. The study tests combination therapies to combat the protein beta amyloid. The article features John Dwyer, President of the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation. Dwyer shares that, while the science has never been more promising, locating trial participants is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Experts such as Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, a senior vice president of clinical and product development at Lilly, and researchers across the country talk about their work and the innovative research, including this study, to end the disease.
Read the full article online here.
July 22, 2018
Kelly Song, CNBC
Top Alzheimer’s Researchers Hope That Near-100 Dementia Drugs in Trials Are Moving Closer to a Breakthrough
- The search for a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, has been marked by clinical trial failures.
- A new report from top researchers says the number of drugs advancing through clinical phase two and phase three trials provides reason to believe that breakthroughs may be in the current pharmaceutical pipeline.
- The dementia scientists are worried that the history of failures has left the health-care system unprepared to diagnose and treat
patients if a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug becomes available. - Fifty million people worldwide and six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, and the number is expected to rise sharply.
CNBC.com July 22, 2018
The search for an Alzheimer’s disease cure has been dogged by pharmaceutical failures, but a network of the world’s top dementia scientists released a report on Sunday saying that the number of drugs making it to phase two and phase three of clinical trials encourages them to believe that a blockbuster may be among compounds in the current development pipeline.
“The topline is the numbers,” said UsAgainstAlzheimer’s acting president Drew Holzapfel. “Almost 100 drugs are in the final stages of drug development. … Despite so much national news about failures this year.”
Dr. Jeff Cummings of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas and a founding member of Researchers Against Alzheimer’s has spent years studying the disease. His annual report on Alzheimer’s drug trials highlights the long history of failures, but he remains confident drug breakthroughs will ultimately be discovered.
Cleveland Clinic Center for Medical Art and Photography
Dr. Jeff Cummings of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas and a founding member of Researchers Against Alzheimer’s has spent years studying the disease. His annual report on Alzheimer’s drug trials highlights the long history of failures, but he remains confident drug breakthroughs will ultimately be discovered.
The number of drugs in phase two clinical trials has increased 17 percent over the past year, from 58 to 68 drugs, according to the report from nonprofit UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and its affiliate of top scientists, ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer’s. The group forecasts eight of those drugs could make it to the market over the next five years.
Numbers present a mixed picture of drug progress
While the researchers focused on the positives, the report’s overall findings don’t represent a massive change in Alzheimer’s drug landscape. The eight drugs in phase two trials that could come to market is consistent with 2017 report’s forecast for potential market entrants. And the twenty-five Alzheimer’s drugs in phase three testing that are predicted to launch in the next five years represents a 7 percent decline from the 2017 level, according to the report. The overall number of phase three drugs declined by three percent year over year.
Holzapfel said that while the number of drugs in phase three declined, the small level of the decline is encouraging. Given the number of failures in the recent past he reads it is a positive that those running trials are not pulling back more significantly. And the increase in the phase two trials also indicates the potential for a larger phase three pipeline in the near future.
The most disappointing number that has defined the search for an Alzheimer’s cure is 99.6 percent. That is the failure rate for drugs that have been in past development pipelines and has been highlighted in an annual report from Jeff Cummings, director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and a founding member of ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer’s. There were over 100 phase two and phase three clinical trials in 2017, according to Cummings report. It has been 14 years since the last drug was approved to treat Alzheimer’s, and that drug treated symptoms but did not attack the evolution of the disease.
“Often times we talked about trials as failed trials. They’re not failed trials, they’re advancing our knowledge of the science. We are learning from past trials and learning how to attack the disease.”
-Drew Holzapfel, acting president, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s
At least one recent trial has increased hopes for progress in Alzheimer’s drug development. Biogen reported a Alzheimer’s drug breakthrough in early July with positive clinical trial results for BAN2401, the first anti-amyloid drug to achieve statistically significant results at a later stage of Alzheimer’s, 18 months. Still, Biogen’s drug is far from coming to market, with a phase three trial not expected until late 2019 or 2020. And Biogen officials stressed that the results showed the drug could slow the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s, but it did not stop the decline or reverse it.
Alzheimer’s drug research has been criticized for a narrow focus on the protein beta amyloid, including Biogen’s BAN2401, but Holzapfel says progress is being made targeting other Alzheimer’s treatments. There was a 20 percent increase in the number of symptomatic drugs in phase three. Symptomatic treatments can make patients feel better, but they are often temporary and reversible. They do not change the evolution of a disease, such as disease-modifying agents, which is the intention of amyloid drugs. Researchers also note that more trials are focusing on another protein, tau. Among phase two drugs, 11 are targeting the tau protein, a 57 percent increase from a year ago. The number of drugs targeting amyloid is still higher, at 12, but increased less (20 percent).
Holzapfel said that because Alzheimer’s is a multi-factor disease, the most effective treatments will require a cocktail of drugs rather than a single breakthrough.
The focus on past failures may leave health-care providers unprepared for drug breakthrough
The new report from Alzheimer’s researchers includes a concern that the long history of failures with dementia drugs has left health-care systems unprepared for a potential breakthrough. The report said that health-care systems are not keeping pace with the science and are risking a situation where those living with Alzheimer’s disease are unable to access an identified cure.
“The lack of new products in the market has led the health-care systems to be complacent in this area,” Holzapfel said. “Many places don’t feel like there are good treatments, so as a result they delay helping patients and families prepare for the progression.”
Holzpafel previously worked for Pfizer, which announced early in 2018 it was ending its neurological drug research efforts, which critics of the search for an Alzheimer’s drug said supported their view that a cure remains far away.
There is still a lack of proper diagnoses being made for many patients, and a shortage of diagnostic and imaging equipment. There also needs to be an improvement in access to specialists. The waiting time to reach a neurologist can be so long it deters those seeking help, Holzapfel said. As a result, health-care systems also need to increase primary care provider training so they can step in and perform some of the functions of specialists. In the long-term, there also must be a focus on increasing interest in Alzheimer’s study across the medical industry.
Clinical trials also require better infrastructure. The Global Alzheimer’s Platform (GAP) has found a “crippling shortage of clinical trial sites capable of performing pending clinical trials,” which could cause years of delays. There are 200 qualified Alzheimer’s trial sites in North America, but the volume needed would require 500 trial sites, according to Holzapfel, who is also a board member of GAP. The sites required are exceeding current capacity by 230 percent.
Holzapfel is pushing for more funding for health-care systems and clinical trials, despite the history of failures: “Often times we talked about trials as failed trials. They’re not failed trials, they’re advancing our knowledge of the science. We are learning from past trials and learning how to attack the disease.”
He said the “constant drumbeat of failure” also harms clinical trials by making individuals less open to taking part in them, because they associate the search for an Alzheimer’s drug with failure. Increasing the number of individuals in trials has been repeatedly cited by top researchers as one of the keys to finding successful drugs.
It is not only the scientists associated with Sunday’s report who remain optimistic. Earlier this year, the annual Brain Prize worth €1 million was awarded to researchers focused on amyloid targeting. They said the reason the Alzheimer’s drug effort has failed so far is that drugs are delivered at a stage when the disease has already progressed too far. In comments to the press they expressed confidence about finding a successful drug within five years and Alzheimer’s will disappear as a major problem for society within a decade.
Kelly Song | @ksong18 | kelly.song@nbcuni.com
April 13, 2018
Dane Huffman, Triangle Business Journal
How a Raleigh clinic is helping Alzheimer’s patients
Alzheimer’s clinical trial participants are getting a lift to their appointments at Raleigh Neurology Associates.
The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation, in partnership with Lyft, is providing transportation to participants in an Eli Lilly study testing a therapy to attack plaque in the brain characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
Sean Walsh, director of clinical research at Raleigh Neurology Associates, says the new partnership will help the patient experience and increase efficiency and lower costs. Raleigh Neurology is one of 15 participating clinical trial sites.
Atop the list in terms of challenges Raleigh Neurology Associates faces related to Alzheimer’s clinical trials is “getting patients to the site to have research done,” he says. The new partnership between GAP and Lyft will be a “game changer,” he says.
Many Alzheimer’s patients don’t have transportation, Walsh says.
November 13, 2017
Clinical Leader
Can GAP double the number of patients in Alzheimer’s trials?
Curing diseases requires new drugs. Getting those new drugs approved by regulators requires data from successful clinical trials. Those trials depend on patients, and right now getting those patients is a challenge for many sponsor companies. According to research performed on recruitment, 85 percent of trials are delayed due to enrollment issues and more than 30 percent of total trial time is spent simply recruiting patients.
Those issues are present in all therapeutic areas, including Alzheimer’s disease. To mitigate these problems, cut the time of trials, and get needed medicines to patients faster, the Global Alzheimer’s Platform (GAP) Foundation is implementing a new model. The model promises to both accelerate clinical trials and increase patient participation in Alzheimer’s clinical research.
According to GAP, Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 5.4 million Americans and costs taxpayers more than $153 billion per year in Medicare and Medicaid expenses. By the year 2050, it’s estimated that 14 million Americans will be afflicted with the disease. With the aging population we currently have in this country, finding an effective treatment for the disease has never been more important.
Read the full article online here.
November 6, 2017
Kansas City Star
Minority participation in clinical trials can help everyone fight Alzheimer’s
Growing up as an African-American in the South over 75 years ago, my family didn’t have the access to medical care we do today. One event from my childhood changed my life.
My mother went to the doctor’s office. She was quite ill and needed help. The doctor said she had to wait to be seen until after all of the white patients were assisted. It was at that moment I decided to become a doctor.
Since then, times have changed and gotten better, but there’s still a pervasive problem in health care for the African-American community. We are underrepresented in medical research and therefore often last in line when finding effective treatments and therapies for diseases. A particular area that should be of concern to all minority populations is Alzheimer’s disease.
African-Americans are twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s than Caucasians according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The higher rate of prevalence unfortunately translates into a higher death rate. Alzheimer’s deaths increased 55 percent among all Americans between 1999 and 2014, and these deaths increased 99 percent for African-Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But this is a point of disparity that we, as a community, can help repair.
Read the full article online here or via PDF here.
May 9, 2017
alzheimersnewstoday.com
Patient advocacy groups welcome 40% increase in Alzheimer’s NIH research funds authorized by Congress
The U.S. Congress last week authorized an additional 40 percent in funds for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research, boosting the fiscal 2017 total by $400 million to nearly $1.4 billion as part of a $2 billion year-over-year increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The final package won praise from the nonprofit Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP), a Washington-based entity launched in 2015 by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and the Global CEO Initiative (CEOi) on Alzheimer’s Disease. GAP works with leading researchers, drug firms, nonprofit groups and governments to slash the time, cost and risk involved in Alzheimer’s clinical trials and speed up approval of innovative medicines and other therapies.
The foundation aims to build a standing global clinical trial platform of willing participants through novel recruitment techniques, coupled with a network of participating high-performance clinical trial sites.
Read the full article online here or via PDF here.
November 26, 2016
Hope to prevent Alzheimer’s? Grab the olive oil and hop on a treadmill
By Eric Adler, Kansas City Star
Ann Poehler’s strides quicken on the treadmill. Her feet pound. Her heart races from 150 to 160 beats per minute and more.
A plastic tube jutting from the Prairie Village woman’s mouth feeds carbon dioxide levels to a computer here inside the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The computer records every respiration while an exercise physiologist coaches her to push harder.
“Can you hang in there like for 15 more seconds?” he urges, making an initial chart of her vitals for an exercise study geared to combat what, for people over 50, is the second-most-feared disease in the United States, just behind cancer. “Good job. Great work. … Hang on.”
At 65, Poehler is cognitively healthy and wants to stay that way. She watched Alzheimer’s rob her grandmother of her memory and life. Now her mother is in a memory care unit.
Like millions of aging Americans, Poehler hopes to escape the cataclysm of the brain-wasting disease that now afflicts some 5.4 million people in the U.S., a number that only promises to grow as baby boomers age, if a cure or preventive is not found.
A national study, published online Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, offered positive signs on what has long been a bleak landscape. It showed that the rate of dementia in people 65 and older had decreased from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012 for reasons that, not fully understood, researchers are exploring.
The fact remains that one out of every three people over age 85 in the U.S. — and at least one out of 11 over age 65 — now has clinical Alzheimer’s.
Read the full article online or via PDF here.
September 13, 2016
September 2016 GAP-Net Site Webinar
Aug. 1, 2016
National survey finds that a majority of Americans would consider participating in an Alzheimer’s clinical trial
A recent online survey conducted by Harris Poll found that nearly 60% of Americans are definitely willing or willing to consider taking part in a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s. This promising statistic is good news for researchers; however, obtaining qualified trial participants has been one of the greatest challenges in getting clinical trials off the ground.
To address this, the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation commissioned a survey to examine Americans’ perceptions about Alzheimer’s disease and to gauge their willingness to participate in clinical trials. The large disconnect between willingness to take part in a clinical trial and actual participation may be attributed to a lack of information provided to the public and a scarcity of easy-to-use tools to begin enrollment in the process.
One solution is for people to join the Brain Health Registry (BHR). BHR is a free, online platform designed to speed the path to cures for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. BHR gathers data from volunteers who have registered and completed questionnaires and cognitive tests via its website. BHR aims to reduce the cost of patient recruitment for clinical trials by building a large online pool of potential, trial-ready candidates. Join today at www.brainhealthregistry.org.
The Harris Poll survey also asked questions not directly related to clinical trials. Additional findings include:
- 25% of Americans have/had a family member with the disease.
- 73% of Americans who do not have Alzheimer’s disease say that if they were to develop the disease, their biggest fear would be not knowing how their family would pay for their care.
- 28% of Americans believe that health insurance usually covers most of the cost of care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease.
- 23% of Americans most feared developing Alzheimer’s disease, more than the 18% who said they most feared having a heart attack and 7% who most feared getting shot. 27% most feared another major economic crisis, while 26% said they most feared being targeted in a terrorist attack.
These findings clearly convey that a lot of Americans are aware of and concerned about Alzheimer’s, but that there are also misconceptions. This suggests that even by making the public more aware about the disease, there will be a growing appetite to find a cure.
Tell your friends and family about Alzheimer’s, and encourage them to visit the Brain Health Registry today. Together, we can make Alzheimer’s a distant memory.