Category Archives: Alzheimer’s

Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs are the most promising?

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Many drugs in development aim to delay, slow or reverse symptoms, but which are causing the biggest stir?

This week England’s health spending watchdog rejected a new Alzheimer’s drug – the second such drug it has turned down this year.

Both donanemab and lecanemab were approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), yet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said their benefits were too small to justify their costs, while there have also been concerns over potential side-effects – such as brain swelling and bleeding.

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Former PM Harold Wilson sold private papers to help fund his care

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Ex-Labour leader initially planned to sell personal and political documents to Canadian university for £212,500

The former UK prime minister Harold Wilson agreed to sell his archive of private papers to help fund his care, official documents have revealed.

Papers released by the National Archives and identified by the BBC show Lord Wilson initially planned to sell the collection to McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, for £212,500 – the equivalent of about £700,000 in today’s money.

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Australia’s health watchdog warns patients are being overprescribed psychotropic medication

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Royal commissions into disability and aged care found ‘a fundamental problem’ with how the drugs were used

Glenda Parkin was 56 when she was diagnosed with younger-onset dementia, a rare visual variant of Alzheimer’s disease known as posterior cortical atrophy. She became functionally blind and her ability to perceive the world around her gradually deteriorated.

While the diagnosis forced Parkin to retire at the zenith of her career as a school principal in Perth, losing her abilities to read and write alongside other basic capabilities, she carried on a fulfilling life, according to her husband, Bronte, her carer for 10 years.

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Hundreds of thousands face being denied revolutionary new dementia drugs in England

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Exclusive: Treatments near approval but lack of diagnostic capacity means NHS unprepared for rollout, report says

Hundreds of thousands of dementia patients in England face being denied access to revolutionary new drugs because the diagnostic capacity of the NHS lags behind every other G7 country, according to a damning report.

After decades of research to find a cure for the condition projected to affect 153 million people worldwide by 2050, scientists have successfully developed the first treatments to tackle the underlying causes rather than only relieve the symptoms. Two new drugs could get the green light for use on the NHS within weeks.

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Simple blood tests for dementia to be trialled in NHS

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£5m project launched with aim of having reliable tests within five years to provide quick diagnosis

Scientists are to begin piloting simple blood tests for dementia that could revolutionise detection of the disease and within five years lead to people being diagnosed in seconds by the NHS.

Currently, getting a formal diagnosis in the UK relies on mental ability tests, brain scans or invasive and painful lumbar punctures, where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid is drawn from the lower back.

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Dementia risk factors pose more danger for ethnic minorities, finds study

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Conditions such as diabetes and obesity are said to magnify risk of south Asian and black people developing the disease

The most common risk factors for dementia appear to have a more pronounced effect in black and Asian people, a study suggests, prompting calls for greater efforts to tackle health inequalities.

The number of adults living with dementia worldwide is on course to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050. Experts say the disease presents a major and rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems in every community, country and continent.

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FDA advisers say new Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab slows cognitive decline

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Panel’s opinion could pave way for full regulatory approval next month for treatment of disease that affects 6.5m Americans

A panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration agreed that a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease was beneficial for slowing cognitive decline, paving the way for full regulatory approval next month.

Earlier this year, the drug, known as lecanemab, was granted partial, or accelerated, approval, but that restricted it to people who could pay $26,500 a year or were enrolled in a clinical trial. Under its current status, it is not available under the public health programs Medicare and Medicaid.

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A third of Britons wait ‘more than a month’ to discuss dementia concerns

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Alzheimer’s Society says fear and confusion delays discussion for 33% of those who think they or a loved one may have dementia

A third of Britons who have concerns about whether they, or a loved one, might have dementia wait more than a month to discuss their worries with others, a leading charity has found, despite early diagnosis being important for treatment, support and planning.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide, with 60-70% of cases thought to be down to Alzheimer disease.

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Family of UK woman with Alzheimer’s vow to stop deportation from Sweden

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Swedish police pressing ahead with removal of Kathleen Poole, 74, due to incomplete post-Brexit paperwork

The family of a woman with Alzheimer’s who is threatened with deportation from Sweden have vowed to do anything they can to stop her removal because of a promise they made to their children.

Kathleen Poole, 74, is facing forced removal from Sweden, her home for 18 years, after immigration authorities rejected an application by her family to stay in the country post-Brexit on the grounds her paperwork was incomplete.

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Dementia now causes greatest burden of illness, injury and premature death in older Australians

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Condition overtakes coronary heart disease with 62% rise in number of healthy years lost since 2011, report finds, causing significant impact on carers and families

Dementia has now overtaken coronary heart disease as causing the greatest burden of illness, injury and premature death in older Australians, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Among people aged 65 years and older, dementia was responsible for almost 230,000 years of healthy life lost – a figure that has increased 62% since 2011, the report found.

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John Lydon hopes to highlight ‘torture’ of Alzheimer’s with Eurovision bid

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Former Sex Pistol competing to represent Ireland with love letter to wife of 44 years who is living with the illness

John Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known as Johnny Rotten) will appear with his band, Public Image Ltd, on the Late Late Show on 3 February, performing Hawaii, a love letter to his wife of 44 years, Nora Forster, who is living with the illness.

“I’m doing it to highlight the sheer torture of what Alzheimer’s is,” said the singer, who holds an Irish passport as well as US citizenship. “It gets swept under the carpet, but in highlighting it, hopefully we get a stage nearer to a cure.” Lydon insisted that spreading this message was much more important than competing to win, so he isn’t listening to the five other entrants.

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Exposure to environmental toxins may be root of rise in neurological disorders

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Doctors warn exposure to omnipresent yet poorly understood chemicals such as microplastics could play a role in dementia

The mystery behind the astronomical rise in neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s could be caused by exposure to environmental toxins that are omnipresent yet poorly understood, leading doctors warn.

At a conference on Sunday, the country’s leading neurologists and neuroscientists will highlight recent research efforts to fill the gaping scientific hole in understanding of the role environmental toxins – air pollution, pesticides, microplastics, forever chemicals and more – play in increasingly common diseases like dementias and childhood developmental disorders.

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Scottish walker, 82, completes mission to climb every Munro

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Nick Gardner bagged Cairn Gorm on Saturday, ending his quest in aid of Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis charities

An 82-year-old man said he felt “like a child on Christmas Eve” as he set out to scale the final peak in a mission to climb every Scottish Munro.

Nick Gardner embarked on the challenge in an attempt to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Scotland and the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) after his wife, Janet, 84, who has since moved to a care home, developed both conditions.

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Critical elements of leading Alzheimer’s study possibly fraudulent

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The highly influential paper, first published in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal research into the disease

Critical elements of one of the most cited pieces of Alzheimer’s disease research in the last two decades may have been purposely manipulated, according to a report in Science.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia globally, according to the World Health Organization. The highly influential paper, which was published in Nature in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal government research into Alzheimer’s, according to Science.

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Can you think yourself young?

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Research shows that a positive attitude to ageing can lead to a longer, healthier life, while negative beliefs can have hugely detrimental effects

For more than a decade, Paddy Jones has been wowing audiences across the world with her salsa dancing. She came to fame on the Spanish talent show Tú Sí Que Vales (You’re Worth It) in 2009 and has since found success in the UK, through Britain’s Got Talent; in Germany, on Das Supertalent; in Argentina, on the dancing show Bailando; and in Italy, where she performed at the Sanremo music festival in 2018 alongside the band Lo Stato Sociale.

Jones also happens to be in her mid-80s, making her the world’s oldest acrobatic salsa dancer, according to Guinness World Records. Growing up in the UK, Jones had been a keen dancer and had performed professionally before she married her husband, David, at 22 and had four children. It was only in retirement that she began dancing again – to widespread acclaim. “I don’t plead my age because I don’t feel 80 or act it,” Jones told an interviewer in 2014.

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Viagra could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, study finds

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US scientists say users of sildenafil – the generic name for Viagra – are 69% less likely to develop the form of dementia than non-users

Viagra could be a useful treatment against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a US study.

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia, affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Despite mounting numbers of cases, however, there is currently no effective treatment.

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How biodiversity loss is jeopardising the drugs of the future

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From willow bark to mosquitoes, nature has been a source of vital medications for centuries. But species die-off caused by human activity is putting this at risk

What will biodiversity loss mean for drug discovery?
Traditionally used as a painkiller for headaches, snowdrops are now known to slow the onset of dementia. In the 1950s, a natural alkaloid called galantamine was extracted from the bulbs. Today, a synthesised version of this is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease and scientists are investigating further to see if snowdrops might also be effective in the treatment of HIV.

However, over-harvesting has resulted in many snowdrop species becoming threatened. The snowdrop isn’t alone – plants are an abundant source of potential new medicines, often providing us with chemical templates for the design of novel drugs. Yet scientists across the globe say unsustainable use of wild medicinal plants is contributing to biodiversity loss and could limit opportunities to source medicines from nature in the future.

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Dementia risk lower for people in stimulating jobs, research suggests

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Findings of large study support the idea mental stimulation could delay onset of symptoms, says lead author

People with mentally stimulating jobs have a lower risk of dementia in later years than those who have non-stimulating work, research has suggested.

Scientists looked at more than 100,000 participants across studies from the UK, Europe and the US focused on links between work-related factors and chronic disease, disability and mortality.

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FDA approves first new Alzheimer’s drug in almost 20 years

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Usefulness of aducanumab is disputed but US approval will trigger push to make it available globally

A controversial new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, the first in nearly 20 years, was approved in the US on Monday, which will trigger pressure to make it available worldwide in spite of mixed evidence over its efficacy.

While doctors, patients and the organisations that support them are desperate for treatments that can slow mental deterioration, the usefulness of the new drug, aducanumab, is disputed by scientists. Two trials were stopped in March 2019 because the drugs appeared not to work. The manufacturer, Biogen, said the drugs were unlikely to improve people’s memory and thinking.

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Grandfather becomes oldest person to row 3,000 miles solo across Atlantic

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Frank Rothwell, 70, raised more than £640,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK in tribute to his brother-in-law Roger

A grandfather has become the oldest person to row 3,000 miles solo across the Atlantic Ocean, raising more than £640,000 for dementia research.

Frank Rothwell, 70, from Oldham, set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 12 December and crossed the finish line in Antigua in the Caribbean on Saturday – reuniting with Judith, his wife of 50 years, in good time for Valentine’s Day.

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