Cure Alzheimer's Fund: Targeting Breakthrough Research

Why Don't the Drugs Work

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 11:50

By Tim Armour

A spate of headlines recently dimmed hopes for a wonder drug to fight Alzheimer’s disease. We know that the existing drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s patients including Aircept, Numenda, and others provide only modest symptomatic relief but do not treat the root pathology of the disease.

In a series of posts this week, we’ll look at three new drugs which attempted to get at the causes of the disease but failed. We’ll look at the “bad news,” comment on why they failed and then look at what’s in the pipeline signaling better news.

1). The first high profile failure was Flurizan (tarenflurbil) by Myriad Genetics. A June 30, 2008 report by Myriad CEO Peter Meldrum concluded, “We are disappointed that Flurizan failed to achieve significance and we will now discontinue development of this compound.” Womp went Myriad’s stock and the hopes of millions as a result of this $60 million “failure.”

2). The second is the disappointing results of trials for bapineuzumab (acronym for “Beta Amyloid Peptide (I) Neutrali Z ing (U) M onoclonal Antibody) by pharmaceutical partners Elan and Wyeth. The companies tried several variations of doses of this drug, but experienced safety issues at the higher, more effective doses because of the presence of vasogenic edema in some of the study’s patients. “Bap’s” development has now been taken over by Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy unit which announced, on March 17th, an extension of current trials with no announcement about results of those trials until 2012.

3). Third is the very recent spectacular rise and fall of Dimebon, a drug developed in Russia as an antihistamine and brought to the US after extensive review of the Russian trials as an Alzheimer’s drug. Initial data was, in essence, “too good to be true” in its apparent ability to lower Abeta in the brain and cause a decrease in Alzheimer’s symptoms. Subsequent trials in the US by the drug’s US licensee, Medivation and its partner Pfizer, could not replicate this “too good to be true” data. In fact, US-based trials, known as CONNECTION, showed no benefit whatsoever. The day the results of these US trials were announced, March 3, 2010, Medivation lost 70% of its value.

We all know that drug making is a high risk business. The pharmaceutical companies tell us this all the time, supporting what many people regard as very high prices on the fewer successful drugs in order to support the risk-taking. Some of this is absolutely true; but without getting into the economics of this issue here, let’s look at the science.

Why did these drugs fail, and in their failure can they help us improve on the next generation of therapies?

Stay tuned for the answers to those questions tomorrow, here on the blog.

Dr. Tanzi Presents "State of the Art" Lecture at the Prestigious International Geneva/Springfield Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer's Therapy

Friday, 26 March 2010 16:00

The researchers who support the Cure Alzheimer Fund always impress us!

Dr. Rudy Tanzi, Chair of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Consortium, director of the Aging and Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, was asked to deliver a “State of the Art” lecture on Friday, March 26, at the 11^th International Geneva/Springfield Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer’s Therapy.

The bi-annual event distinguishes itself from other scientific meetings by “focusing entirely on the pharmacological therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease with particular emphasis on the discovery of new drugs” and the fact that it is organized by a European entity, University of Geneva Medical School, and a university in the United States, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Tanzi spoke about “Novel Alzheimer disease genes and emerging biological pathways”, and building on his laboratory’s identification of over 100 candidate Alzheimer’s genes, funded by Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. The conference runs for four days and brings together leading Alzheimer’s researchers from around the world.

Alzheimer’s as a Barrier to Retirement

Written by Katie Barr Tuesday, 23 March 2010 08:58

We’ve talked about Alzheimer’s disease from almost every possible angle here on the blog, but according to MarketWatch, there is one major implication of diagnosis that we haven’t discussed -- Alzheimer’s as a barrier to retirement.

Robert Powell’s article stresses that while most Americans worry about tax rates and 401Ks when preparing for retirement, there is a clear elephant in the room -- Alzheimer’s.

5.3 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s, but most families fail to prepare for the disease. And what is perhaps most alarming is that the number of cases is expected to skyrocket to 19 million by 2050.

While I won’t delve into the details of retirement planning here (you can learn more about how to prepare for retirement with Alzheimer’s by checking out Powell’s article), this is just one more reason why we must prepare for what many have called the “silver tsunami.” Life expectancy rates in this country are at an all-time high and with advanced age comes the increased threat of Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s is hurting our nation’s families and bankrupting our country’s health care system. Isn’t it time for our federal government to invest in research and finally put an end to this devastating disease?

Less Than 1 Month Until the Big Day!

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:08

A message from race organizer Barbara Geiger:

Who said planning a race would be easy? We knew it wouldn't be. Between kids, husbands, games, work, dinner, homework, one cat and one dog; life was already chaotic enough.

But we also know it will all be worth it.

All the elements are falling into place for April 10th. We have secured a most generous Presenting Sponsor, Tri-Coastal Design of East Hanover, NJ.  Our other sponsors have donated water, fruit, brochures and posters.  We even have a distinguished guest speaker for our morning program, New Jersey State Senator Richard Codey!

What needs to happen next?

Tying up some loose ends, gathering our volunteers for the day and most importantly, signing up more walkers and runners. We have good momentum and some great marketing strategies in place to get the word out. Now we need participants. We are confident they will come, but we’re asking everyone to get the word out.

If you are in Northern New Jersey on Saturday, April 10th, come join us in Roseland, NJ for the 1st Annual Running 4 Answers!