Is Alzheimer’s A Glitch Of Our Brain’s Ancient Immune System?
Connecting Alzheimer's and the immune system was a radical idea at first but these scientists pushed on. In other news, FDA has opened the doors to drugs that would treat people who have biomarkers of a disease but aren't yet showing symptoms.
NPR:
Brain's Ancient Immune System May Play A Role In Alzheimer's
Beer has fueled a lot of bad ideas. But on a Friday afternoon in 2007, it helped two Alzheimer's researchers come up with a really a good one. Neuroscientists Robert Moir and Rudolph Tanzi were sipping Coronas in separate offices during "attitude adjustment hour" at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard's largest teaching hospital. And, by chance, each scientist found himself wondering about an apparent link between Alzheimer's disease and the immune system. (Hamilton, 2/18)
Stat:
FDA Is Offering A New Approach For Developing Alzheimer's Drugs. What Could That Mean?
In an effort to ease drug development for Alzheimer’s disease, the Food and Drug Administration is endorsing a new approach that would rely on biomarkers to approve medicines before patients show any signs of the illness, instead of demonstrating a drug alleviates symptoms. (Silverman, 2/16)
