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By Danny Yarnall

The world of Alzheimer’s research has been flooded with news and speculation surrounding Biogen’s stunning announcement this fall that it would seek FDA approval for its Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab after closing previous studies in March 2019. Some clarity was brought at a Clinical Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease meeting this past December where Biogen released the data behind its reversal on the drug and announced they would reopen aducanumab studies. Still many questions remain as FDA approval process inches closer.

PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD, wrote twice for STAT News, outlining the significance of this new information and how aducanumab, with its risks, fits into a much larger picture of Alzheimer’s care and management.

“It won’t end Alzheimer’s because it cures the disease. It doesn’t do that. Aducanumab appears to slow, but does not stop, and certainly does not reverse, patients’ cognitive and functional declines…As long as the benefits are judged to outweigh the risks, aducanumab won’t just treat individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. It will treat our Alzheimer’s culture,” Dr. Karlawish wrote.

By Danny Yarnall

The University of Pennsylvania’s partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) promoted Alzheimer’s education and combatted stigma, according to a recent report published by the CDC. The program completed in 2019.

The reports from the Healthy Brain Research Network, released November 3, are summaries of the completed work of the six academic institutions in the network, including the work done by Penn Memory Center’s Penn Program on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB) team. 

By Danny Yarnall

Congressional leaders agreed to a $350 million increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a part of a larger NIH budget increase for the 2020 fiscal year.

The agreement broke a three-month deadlock in budget negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The additional funds pushes NIH spending on Alzheimer’s to $2.8 billion, six times the amount originally allocated when the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) was passed in 2011. 

On the whole, the NIH budget increased by $2.6 billion from last year and was among many other science and research institutions to enjoy similar bumps in spending. This comes after a proposed budget released by the White House in March showed over $12 billion (14%) in cuts to all research expenditures.

Penn Memory Center Scholar Emily Largent, JD, PhD, RN, was recently named the Emanuel & Robert Hart Assistant Professorship of Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

“It’s an honor to be the new Emanuel & Robert Hart Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy,” Dr. Largent said. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Robert Hart and his wife, Ineza, on several occasions and am so grateful for their support.” 

By Sharnita Midgett

On a November Thursday morning, Nancy Fuhrman reported to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine for a full shift of work.

But Fuhrman is not employed by Penn Medicine; she is a participant in the Aging Brain Cohort study who scheduled a year’s worth of substudies into a single day. 

Penn Memory Center neurologist Roy Hamilton, MD, MS will be taking a leave from his PMC clinical duties from January until June as he launches a new center at the University of Pennsylvania devoted to stimulating the human brain.

The new Brain Stimulation, Translation, Innovation, and Modulation Center (brainSTIM Center) has been a goal Dr. Hamilton has been working towards in the two decades since he started working in the field of neuromodulation, he said.

“I’m humbled and deeply inspired,” said Dr. Hamilton of the opportunity to start the center. “I’m truly excited to take a leading role in these efforts.”

By Danny Yarnall

Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish, MD, recently testified on the state of Alzheimer’s and dementia research and care in Washington, D.C. before the Senate Finance subcommittee on health care.

Dr. Karlawish spoke about the progress made in understanding Alzheimer’s disease in the past four decades, from a disease surrounded in confusion that developed into a “gothic horror story” to a disease that can be diagnosed non-invasively and understood by families and physicians alike. He was joined by medical professionals, researchers, and caregivers presenting the barriers and difficulties in Alzheimer’s care today.

“I am sad however that there are still too many persons living with dementia and their families who are telling the same stories told some 40 years ago,” he said in his remarks to subcommittee chair Patrick Toomey (R – PA) and ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D – MI), who led the hearing. The subcommittee on health care focuses on Medicare and Medicaid spending and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund. 

By Danny Yarnall

New research shows a unique strain on a generation of Americans caring for both adult parents and children in their home as they start their prime earning years.

The report comes from the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) in partnership with Caring Across Generations, dubbing the group of 11 million Americans “the “sandwich” generation of caregivers for their responsibilities juggling work, parenting, and caregiving, adding often unsupported financial and emotional strain.