Alzheimer’s might not be primarily a brain disease. Studying beta-amyloids as abnormal proteins that cause Alzheimer’s disease has not translated into a useful drug or therapy. A new theory suggests it’s an autoimmune condition.
Science may be self-correcting, but only in the long term. Meanwhile, the triumph of dubious results increases research waste, and entire careers may be spent on chasing phantoms.
"It would be absolutely unacceptable to force 57 million senior citizens to pay $11.50 more a month in Medicare premiums due to Biogen's greed for a drug that has not been proven to be effective by the scientific community."
Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer
The Washington Monthly
How the Food and Drug Administration messes up approval of new drugs including the new one, aducanumab, that supposedly helps Alzheimer’s disease patients.
Public Citizen, which called for the FDA acting commissioner "to immediately resign or be removed" over the "reckless and inexcusable" drug approval, welcomed her "belated" request.
Scientists say such tests could be available in a few years, speeding research for treatments and providing a diagnosis for dementia patients who want to know if they have Alzheimer’s disease.
With advanced dementia, when people no longer can recognize their own family members, they stop speaking. But when they hear music that’s familiar from their youth, because those memories are preserved, they come alive. They connect with that. It’s a direct sort of a backdoor to that failing cognitive system right to the emotional system, which is really very much intact.
Back in Brown with Aasif Mandvi. Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? The Black NRA. After Tiller: Documentary. Copenhagen Metro Peer Gynt Flash Mob. NFL: League of Denial.
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