News

Congressman Fattah Plans International Agenda for Dementia

Pennsylvania-based Representative Chaka Fattah — a U.S. Congressman behind the Fattah Neuroscience Initiative, which aims to drive collaborative Federal research on brain cognition, development, disease and injury — recently had a meeting with World Dementia Envoy and head of the World Dementia Council, Dr. Dennis Gillings, to…

New Experimental Therapy For Alzheimer’s Agitation Shows Promise

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported today new, positive results for their leading drug, AVP-923, designed to treat agitation in Alzheimer’s disease patients. The results will be presented at the American Neurological Association’s (ANA) 2014 Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD, October 12-14, 2014. Joao Siffert, MD, chief medical officer at Avanir,…

Brain May Have Plasticity to Compensate for Alzheimer’s-Related Protein, UC Berkeley Research Discovers

The human brain has the plasticity to compensate for the accumulation of the protein beta-amyloid that causes Alzheimer’s disease, which explains that some individuals develop it and others don’t, as concluded by research conducted at the University of California in Berkeley (UC Berkeley). The researchers analyzed adults with and without beta-amyloid deposits…

Long-Term Use Of Benzodiazepine Drugs For Anxiety And Sleep Disorders Linked To Increased Alzheimer’s Risk

A new Open Access study published in the prestigious BMJ journal finds indication that use of benzodiazepines, widely prescribed drugs for treatment of anxiety and insomnia, is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, particularly for long-term users. These drugs, medically referred to as benzodiazepine receptor agonists,…

Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, OnDeckBiotech to Launch Open Access Research Platform

The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Boston-based software company OnDeckBiotech are launching a new open access platform with the purpose of creating an improved way to connect scientists with a virtual network of contract research organizations (CROs), drug development experts, and educational resources. The announcement was made on third day of…

New Blood Test Can Detect Alzheimer’s Risk Up to 10 Years Before

For diseases that science has yet to find a cure, researchers are hard at work developing preventive medicine, better diagnostic tools, and risk calculation methods. A biotech company that specializes in advancing serum-based assays for neurodegenerative conditions has just announced an exclusive Fall 2014 release of a patented test that can predict the development…

Genetic Variant Identified As Risk Factor For Alzheimer’s

The identification of a genetic variant may lead to improved diagnostics for predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid-beta (Aβ) is the main component of amyloid plaques, i.e., extracellular deposits in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Now, a new study entitled “Apolipoprotein E Genotype and…