Alzheimer’s Update

With several promising Phase 3 trials going on in research and increased funding 2016 is poised to be a good year in the search to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.

• Forbes Magazine has gone out on a limb and predicted that a breakthrough drug in the search to conquer Alzheimer’s may be on the way in 2016. Unlike the five existing therapies to treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease this drug looks cure it.   Eli Lilly’s solanezumab has been in development for 15 years.  Currently in Phase 3 studies, this experimental drug could be the first marketed treatment to slow the worsening of Alzheimer’s.
• The Alzheimer’s Association, the leading advocate for federal Alzheimer’s disease research funding and caregiver support, highlighted the historic $350 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease research funding in the FY2016 budget, signed into law on December 18, 2015 by President Barack Obama. This marks the largest increase ever for federal Alzheimer’s research funding. The bill includes $350 million in new spending for Alzheimer’s disease research, a 60% increase over the 2015 amount and well above the president’s request of $51 million. This brings total funding to $936 million. Alzheimer’s researchers hailed the news. “This sends a positive message to younger scientists, who have been leaving the field in droves, that they can initiate and sustain their research careers investigating this disease … I am grateful to Congress for finally seeing the necessity of this action,” Gary Landreth at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, wrote to Alzforum.