THE FDA IS SET TO MAKE A DECISION TODAY ON A DRUG THAT COULD HELP PEOPLE BATTLING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. IF APPROVED... IT WOULD BE A FIRST TREATMENT TO TARGET AN UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE DISEASE.
AND ON TOP OF THAT... JUNE IS ALZHEIMER'S AND BRAIN AWARENESS MONTH. WE'RE TALKING LIVE WITH ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION COLORADO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AMELIA SCHAEFER.
((INFO))
--Alzheimer's disease is the 6th-leading cause of death and the only major disease without a prevention, treatment, or cure.
--FDA is due to make a decision on the Alzheimer's drug, Aducanumab - the first drug shown to impact the course of Alzheimer's
--Aducanumab is an antibody designed to remove amyloid plaque from the brain, but only one of two large-scale trials showed that it significantly slowed progression of the disease. All previous experimental medicines employing the same approach to Alzheimer's so far have failed.
--A panel of outside advisers to the FDA voted in November that aducanumab had not been proven to slow Alzheimer's progression, despite a report from agency staff that said results from the successful trial were persuasive.
--76,000 Coloradans and the people who care for them are impacted by Alzheimer's disease