The New York Times (9/18, Belluck, Subscription Publication) reports on $45 million in Federal grants “to test an Alzheimer’s drug on healthy people at greatest risk for the most common form of the disease,” in addition to a number of prevention studies granted funding. National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis S. Collins said, “The worst thing we could do would be to just hunker down and hold off tackling very important problems. … Obviously, this is high-risk research, but goodness, the stakes are so high that we felt we had to go forward even in the face of the most difficult budget environment that anyone can remember in the N.I.H.” According to Laurie Ryan, program director for Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials at the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, the plan is to approach Alzheimer’s using similar strategies used to treat chronic diseases; by looking “at people at risk, just like we do with people who have” chronic disease, researchers can see if early intervention can prevent or delay Alzheimer’s.
Related Links:
— “Test of Alzheimer’s Drug Gets Large Federal Grant, “Pam Belluck, The New York Times, September 18, 2013.