Cure Alzheimer's Fund: Targeting Breakthrough Research

Webinar on July 22: "Working Toward a Cure for Alzheimer's: Clues from our Genes" with Doctor Rudy Tanzi

Written by Tim Armour Wednesday, 14 July 2010 20:13

Join us for our 2nd annual webinar on June 22. We will be hosting Dr. Rudy Tanzi, who will present his latest findings in the field of Alzheimer’s disease genetic research. The presentation will include a brief history of Alzheimer’s disease research, an explanation of the Alzheimer’s Genome Project, as well as the introduction of his new research on abeta as an anti-microbial agent.

Click HERE to register.

If you are unable to attend the webinar, e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will send you a podcast of the event.

Dr. Rudy Tanzi is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been investigating neurodegenerative disease since 1980 when he participated in the pioneering study that led to the location of the Huntington disease gene. He has identified several Alzheimer’s disease genes, including the first Alzheimer’s gene, the beta-amyloid protein precursor (APP). His work in the Alzheimer’s Genome Project, which has identified other new Alzheimer’s genes, was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2008. Dr. Tanzi is a world-renowned leader in the studies of Alzheimer’s disease genetics.

The event will be held online, with each participant connecting through their own computer and telephone. More information on the webinar process can be found at www.gotowebinar.com

If you have any further questions, please contact us Katie Cutler at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Cure Alzheimer's Fund cited in Huffington Post

Written by Tim Armour Wednesday, 14 July 2010 11:00

Huffington Post cites Tony Tjan's Harvard Business Review blog citing Cure Alzhiemer's Fund's leadership in entrepreneurial philanthropy. Your comments on CAF's role in this "movement" are welcomed by the Huffington Post!

Tjan highlights venture capital approach to research

Written by Tim Armour Wednesday, 14 July 2010 09:35

Tony Tjan, a member of our advisory board, recently wrote a blog post on the innovative field of medical research entrepreneurship. He highlights our effort to take a venture capital approach in order to improve what is currently a broken research system.

The medical research model as we know it today is broken. Why? Three words: insufficient, inefficient, and ineffective. This is both the big problem and the big opportunity for medical entrepreneurship. Today's model is insufficient because typically 1% or less of the amount spent each year on diseases goes towards cure research, with the balance going to caring for people with the disease. Alzheimer's, for example, costs our country hundreds of millions of dollars each year, yet we spend just one cent out of every $4.00 available towards a cure.

You can read the rest of this article, and other posts on the topic of entrepreneurship, at his Harvard Business Review Blog.

Economist agrees we need to invest in research!

Written by Tim Armour Tuesday, 22 June 2010 21:54

The prestigious Economist weighs in on the “pooling of drug test data” discussion (Wall Street Journal, “Drug Makers Will Share Data From Failed Alzheimer’s Trials”, June 11, 2010) and agrees with Cure Alzheimer’s Fund: the emphasis should be on research that finds the cause of the disease rather than spending billions on the development of drugs that may be addressing the wrong targets or the right targets in the wrong ways. To quote the Economist, “the problem of what causes Alzheimer’s is profound” and so far, unresolved. In fact, as the article points out, fundamental perspectives on the causes of the disease are changing right now, and to at least some extent obviating the billions spent on drugs developed from very imperfect information about the basic pathology of Alzheimer’s.

It is a very hard problem to solve, but, again as the Economist states, “it is the “R” rather than the “D” of research and development that needs to be emphasized at the moment.” We at CAF couldn’t agree more with the Economist’s conclusion that now is the worst time to be cutting back on the “R”, which, in fact, NIH is doing.  The numbers that are increasingly well known are staggering and depressing. The United States will spend roughly $170 billion on care for Alzheimer’s patients in 2010, but invest only about $480 million in research into the causes of the disease through the National Institutes of Health in 2011. Shockingly that number is DOWN from $643 million in 2006.

As the Economist summarizes, “you get what you pay for”. Unless we rebalance this equation of care spending to cure spending, the future for the roughly half of people over 85 who have the disease or will get it in the next ten years is bleak indeed.