Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, Part 1 with Dr. Cherian Verghese

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following podcast is provided by a Thera Farma and answers for elders radio and welcome everyone to answer for elders radio network. And we are here again on a springtime it’s in the month of April and the flowers are blooming, the tulips are coming up and there’s newness around us and we’re here to talk about a very, very special program for those that are in the beginning or medium stages of Alzheimer’s disease. And obviously, you know, we hear about Alzheimer’s and how overwhelming, but we don’t necessarily know the actual statistics or what’s happening out there, and so I felt it really important to our listeners to have look kind of a little score card, you know, where are we in the progression of it towards a cure? And for those of you that are listening, if you know someone that is affected with Alzheimer’s or dementia or have a loved one that is, this is an important program for you to listen to and we are very, very honored and to have Dr Verr geese from the Keystone Clinic in Philadelphia area. You’re actually Dr v Gisher, in a Plymouth meeting, is that correct? Pennsylvania, excited, Philly, and I am so thrilled that you are with us. So welcome to the program. Thank you, Susannan. Thank you for inviting me to this program. I am really passionate about the cause of educating and finding cures treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Anybody who’s ever had a family member or seeing something someone with Alzheimer’s disease cannot think and behave the same way after that. My own mother died of Alzheimer’s five years ago. Oh my God, that experience really transform my efforts as a physician investigator. We at Keystone clinical studies are almost completely devoted to Alzheimer’s disease and we stopped working in some of the other areas that we used to work and because we see that this is such an important thing for for individuals, for society and for the world at large. Yes, yes, and and obviously working with a thorough farmer who we love and certainly work with. You know, you guys had been ambled a team up with some medical breakthroughs and we’re going to talk about that this this hour, about, you know, what’s being done what is the process? How to can you get at the front of the curve of what’s happening with with treatment out there? And and so obviously I want to talk a little bit before we get into that. Dr Ver Giese’s I would love to talk to you about just overall, where are we with Alzheimer’s in this country? You know how I mean. It’s overwhelming statistics right. So, before we go little further, I just want to clarify some concepts. Okay, kind of think that Alzheimer’s and dementia are the same. They are not. Now, dementia means brain failure. It’s not a disease, it’s what we in medicine call a syndrome. And there are many causes of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is the biggest cause of dementia or brain failure. Hi We can cause dementia, brain failure. COVID can cause dementia. Drinking too much can cause dementia, brain failure. Playing too much football can cause, you know, chronic traumatic and CEPHILOPATHY and brain failure. So dementia is when you’re not able to look after yourself. Yeah, and Alzheimer’s disease has a whole spectrum of clinical presentations till the brain is so impaired that you have Alzheimer’s dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the cause of two thirds or more of dementia’s in the elderly. As we live longer, there’s more and more Alzheimer’s disease. In the old days, you know, they would even call it old timer’s disease because it’s only the people who survived into old age developed Alzheimer’s. But if you look at the statistics, if you look, come on, sixty five year olds, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s Dementia, okay, is five percent. If you look at seventy year olds, it’s ten percent. If you look at seventy five year olds, it doubles to twenty percent. If you look at eighty year olds, it’s forty percent or more. My God, no, the longer you live, the more likely you are to develop Alzheimer’s dementia. Today we have about five point eight two six million Americans with Alzheimer’s Dementia, and I keep saying dementia, because the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease is probably a lot more prevalent and we don’t even know how much that is. A quicker scary statistic is that the harbored aging brain study, which looked at the brains of socalled normal people, found that one out of three people in that study about the age of sixty had the amloid protein in their brains on pet scans. And and what is that protein? Just as not, it is the protein that starts a cascade of changes in the brain. Okay, that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and later on Alzheimer’s Dementia. So I’m alloid is a toxic protein that the brain reacts to and it starts in inflammatory process and that’s what releases. Am aloid is the blocks, and the blocks release the tangles. The tangle spread around the brain and cause neurodegeneration everywhere. Coming back to the harbored aging brain study, one out of three people above sixty had this toxic protein and in about fifteen to twenty years it becomes Alzheimer’s disease. So there’s a long incarnation period, as it were. So do you find, and this is just a point of curiosity, they have that protein? I’m sure that’s a contributing factor right, you obviously recognize the fact that in a lifestyle, in their in their everyday life, does that necessarily affect them? Number one, in their everyday life in their younger years. You don’t even have it and you don’t realize. But another thing is, what about your lifestyle? Maybe you’R you don’t use, you know, mind activities as much in your in your earlier days. Is there any studies in that area as far as how your earlier life effects later life with Alzheimer’s? Great Question. So let me unpack that. So these people who had the AM aloid in the brain on the outside they did not look any different. Right. It did very high resolution MRI imaging of their memory center in the brain. It had already started to shrink. Wow, yes, and when they did high end neuropsychological testing they were less they perform less well compared to people who didn’t have it. So having the amloid is not good for your brain, right. Is this that when we get into our s now we do things by Rote, you know, we don’t have to learn a lot and so it’s not exposed, we are not brought you know, the the the difficulties not shown up. I have a pay had a patient who was the CEO of a company. You could run his company, but they went on a cruise and he fell apart. Why? Because it’s all new learning. Yeah, and what goes first in Alzheimer’s disease is new learning. So these folks who have the amoloid have difficulties in new learning. Is just that there isn’t enough awareness to grab onto that. So then once that question about Middle Age. What’s good for your heart is good for your brain. So controlling your sugar, your cholesterol, your weight, regular exercise, aerobic exercise, social connectivity does help, but it’s not curative. Like anything else like cancer, HIV, heart disease, it’s medicine and lifestyle. One doesn’t fully address it, but without the medicines you really can stop the process in your hand. Sorry, that’s okay. No. So then my next question is what about adults that maybe you’re fully functioning adult, but you may be someone on the spectrum or you may be in a situation where you’ve got add or any sort of neurological condition. Does that affect it? When you say the spectrum, I mean autists. Are Sorry, there is no connection between autism, spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s add is something that starts early in your life, you know, like in your teens and young adulthood, and last throughout your life. So I don’t think that either of these predispose or can be confused with Alzheimer’s disease. Most people with Altzheimer’s disease have very high levels of functioning and then they start to go down in the S and S. with one caveat people with down syndrome. We have three chromosomes, that three, twenty one chromosome, chromosome twenty one copies. Hundred percent of them develop Alzheimer’s Disease in the Sh my goodness, oh my godness. Well, and we know that, at least it’s been in my experience that we know that early on set Alzheimer’s can escalate more quickly correct then when you’re diagnosed in your older age. And that’s probably because your brain, I’m assuming, has a little more functionality. Or is that reason just a more aggressive form of illness? Okay, so when you’re younger, it just it, it moves faster. Three year system. I know, I know. I just lost a class classmate of mine not too long ago and he’s like my age sixty six and he, I mean he was diagnosed in three years later he passed away. It was so fast it was just overwhelming. I couldn’t even believe it. So it’s just fascinating how this disease has has hit our country and and of course, just at we’re closing, I just really want to leave you with one statist. Yes, please do. There’s a new case off Alzheimer’s every sixty five seconds in the US and it Mus me every sixty seven seconds and some say it’s even every sixty three seconds. So in the time we were speaking about eleven people have developped Alzheimer’s disease and globally it’s every four seconds. Oh my goodness. So this is a disease that is increasing in prevalence as we go along. Well, and I know in our state and the state of Washington, our statistics are overwhelming. You know, I believe the latest came out, there’s like in just in the state of Washington alone, there’s over a hundred and fifty thou of our residents that have Alzheimer’s disease and they’re being cared for by close to four hundred thou unpaid family caregivers and that tells me there’s a huge issue in this country, in this state, and let alone the country. and Dr Vergeese, you’re going to be with me this hour. So for each and every one of you here, we he and I will be right back and we’re going to talk a lot more about Alzheimer’s disease and how, if you know of someone or you have a loved one, how you can get involved in a very important clinical trial that could put you ahead of the curve in finding the cure for this disease spread after this. The preceding podcast was provided by a Thera farmer and answers for elders radio. For more information about the Alzheimer’s clinical trial, go to a thera clinical trialscom