Alzheimer’s

Changing The Way Doctors Talk To Patients About Dementia

Too often, physicians are reluctant to give patients a diagnosis of dementia, even when cognitive testing shows memory loss or other symptoms. And when doctors do provide a candid diagnosis, they may send their patients and their families home without any guidance for what to do next. No practical advice. No sense of hope. And too often, not even any [...]

By |2024-02-13T16:04:34-05:00February 12th, 2024|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Medicare Will Pay For A Common Alzheimer’s Test But It May Not Be Reliable

Last year, Medicare decided it would routinely pay for sophisticated imaging tests for Alzheimer’s disease called amyloid-PET (positron emission tomography) scans. The move will make it easier for people with early-stage memory loss to get tested and potentially become eligible for a class of new drugs that aim to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. However, many neuroscientists and imaging experts [...]

By |2024-01-09T15:09:53-05:00January 9th, 2024|dementia|0 Comments

NIH Steps Back From Project Developing Alzheimer’s Diagnostic Standards

The National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Aging has dropped its name from a controversial joint project with Alzheimer’s Association to revise clinical research standards, which it calls criteria, for determining who has Alzheimer’s disease. The relationship was unusual. NIH rarely sponsors projects to develop such standards, and almost never partners with advocacy groups. Typically, such guidance is written by expert panels organized [...]

By |2023-10-31T17:27:50-04:00October 31st, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

Should People With No Symptoms Get A Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease?

The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association have proposed revised clinical guidelines that would designate seven major stages of the brain disease. The first two would be for people who have no symptoms but may be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s. These technical guidelines, which would update a 2018 version, could have enormous, and conflicting, implications for drug [...]

By |2023-08-08T10:47:15-04:00August 8th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

FDA Has Approved The Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi. What You Need To Know

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted final approval to the anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanamab, marked as Leqembi by drugmakers Eisai and Biogen. Here is what you need to know: What does it do? In a formal phase 3 trial, Leqembi was shown to slow the progression of memory loss and cognitive impairment in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease by [...]

By |2023-07-06T17:25:34-04:00July 6th, 2023|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Biggest Barrier To New Anti-Alzheimer’s Drugs May Be Cost, Not Medicare Rules

The drug industry and its supporters are blasting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for proposing to limit Medicare payments for the new anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab to patients who participate in a trial or a special registry aimed at tracking their experience with the drug. CMS says the record-keeping will help provide important, real-world information about the benefits [...]

By |2023-06-14T12:12:06-04:00June 14th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

The War Over Whether Medicare Should Pay For New Anti-Alzheimer’s Drugs

The powerful Alzheimer’s Disease lobby is fighting a multi-billion-dollar battle on two fronts. It is quietly trying to limit restrictions the Food and Drug Administration puts on the use of new drugs aimed at slowing the progression of the brain disease. And it is publicly pressing Medicare to pay for the widespread use of the monoclonal antibodies FDA already has [...]

By |2023-05-17T15:27:50-04:00May 17th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

Experts Raise New Questions About The Safety Of Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi

Medical experts are raising new questions about the safety of the anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab, which is marketed as Leqembi by drugmakers Biogen and Eisai. One study, which looked in detail at the death of a participant in a Leqembi research trial, suggests that people with a condition that affects as many as half of those with Alzheimer’s Disease may be [...]

By |2023-04-25T10:22:43-04:00April 25th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

Was Key Alzheimer’s Research Manipulated?

For more than 15 years, much of the Alzheimer’s Disease establishment has focused its attention—and hundreds of millions of research dollars—on the theory that the disease primarily is caused by the build-up of plaque, called amyloid beta, in the brain. A six-month investigation by Charles Piller, an award-winning reporter for Science magazine, finds that key research published in 2006 may [...]

By |2022-07-25T14:45:43-04:00July 25th, 2022|dementia|0 Comments

How The Medical System Is Failing People With Down Syndrome And Alzheimer’s Disease

Over just the past few decades, the life expectancy of people with Down Syndrome (DS) has increased from less than 30 years to nearly 60. But for many, that remarkable advancement comes at a high price. As they live longer, up to ninety percent of people with DS will have Alzheimer’s Disease. It is, in fact, the leading cause of death [...]

By |2022-02-10T13:53:33-05:00February 10th, 2022|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments