MUST READ

A May 6, 2015 The Business Journal article reported on NIH’s efforts to make precision medicine a reality. According to the article, “The federal government is playing a leading role in making the promise of precision medicine a reality through an initiative announced by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address in January. Even Republicans like this initiative — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said precision medicine is “one of the most exciting new frontiers in medicine.”…For patients and their families, precision medicine could lead to more effective treatment and even cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s. For businesses, precision medicine offers opportunities ranging from new DNA sequencing technologies to more efficient electronic health records. It also promises, over time, to reduce health care costs, which should hold down the price of health insurance.”

CAREGIVING PERSPECTIVES

A May 6, 2015 New York Times article highlighted a PBS Special on caregiving called “Caring for Mom & Dad.” According to the article, “Though it still spends considerable time on elder-care anecdotes — stories that are heart-rending but at this point familiar — it also acknowledges difficult questions of costs, rights and medical capabilities. The program, “Caring for Mom & Dad,” starts out with a fact everyone probably knows. “America is facing a new reality,” Meryl Streep, the narrator, says. “Soon the old will outnumber the young, and most will live longer than ever before.” The show gives us the obligatory stories of a few people who care for an elderly parent and have made sacrifices to do so. But it is at its most useful when it looks at the costs these kinds of home-care situations entail, both emotional and financial.” Tune in Thursday night - check your local listings here.

An April 20 New America Media article profiled the unique challenges that Latino families face with eldercare and featured LatinosAgainstAlzheimer's coalition member The National Hispanic Council on Aging. According to the article, “Gloria Frías explains how difficult it was at first to take her mother on the bus to medical appointments while she was in a wheel chair. “Now I can take her in my car, but I have to carry her. And then at the doctor’s office I have an even harder time since they take so long for the physician to see her. They treat her like any other patient, not taking into consideration her advanced age, how she cries because of the pain she feels.” This Mexican woman is one of more than 8 million Hispanics taking care of family elders without receiving any compensation, according to the 2008 study, “Hispanic Family Caregiving in the U.S.” conducted by the Evercare organization in collaboration with the National Alliance for Caregiving. According to Henry Pacheco, MD, medical director of the National Hispanic Council on Aging, “What motivates Hispanics to become caregivers to their elders is familiarismo, their cultural values that are passed on from generation to generation.” Pacheco, who is from Bolivia, said Hispanics learn the obligation to care for family elders from an early age. “In many cases it is an honor or a cultural obligation, just like the responsibility of taking care of your children,” he added. Most Latinos prefer to take care of their elders at home were they can speak their native language and eat Latino cuisine, instead of sending them to nursing homes. Also, it is almost impossible for most Hispanic families to pay between $8,000 and $10,000 a month for institutional care in a nursing home, Pacheco said.”

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT 

A May 7, 2015 The Wall Street Journal article reported that Johnson & Johnson “has arranged for an independent panel to review requests from seriously ill patients who want to try an unapproved drug even if they aren’t participating in the drug’s testing.” According to the article, “The committee of doctors, bioethicists and patient representatives organized by the New York University School of Medicine will consider the hundreds of requests that J&J receives each year from patients who believe an experimental drug can help them. The panel will recommend a course of action to J&J. Until now, the decisions have been largely left in the hands of individual physicians around the company working on particular drugs. “This really assures each request is handled in an objective and thoughtful manner,” said J&J Chief Medical Officer Joanne Waldstreicher. The issue of early access has drawn increasing public attention while raising thorny ethical questions for regulators and the drug industry. Companies say they typically make only enough of an experimental drug to supply the clinical trials, and they fear lawsuits or a backlash against participating in their studies if a patient given access to an unapproved drug fails or suffers serious side effects.” Also reported on by The New York Times. 

A May 6, 2015 Mobile Health News article reported that Eli Lilly will open a new drug delivery and innovation center in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the article, “The focus of the new Lilly Cambridge Innovation Center will be on drug delivery and device innovation, specifically related to diabetes, neural degeneration (including Alzheimer’s), immunology, and chronic pain. Those are all areas where the medication involves some kind of injectable or biologic, and Lilly wants to explore all kinds of innovations related to drug delivery devices — including, potentially, mobile health.”

LONG READS (AND WATCH)  

A May 6, 2015 Nova Next article profiled the science behind memory. According to the article, “Today, we have advanced prosthetics that can replace limbs with devices of uncanny agility, but when it comes to traumatic brain injuries, scientists and physicians have few options. A memory prosthetic would change that. Deadwyler and Hampson believe it’s possible to create a device that will help individuals with brain injuries and memory loss from Alzheimer’s and other dementias improve their ability to learn and remember. Although they have spent the last decade testing it in rats and monkeys, they hope to test it in humans in the near future.” 

Watch Ken Dychtwald, President and CEO of Age Wave and Chair-Elect of the American Society on Aging Board of Directors, deliver a keynote address that explores a wide range of game-changing issues in the longevity revolution.