Just a few short weeks ago The New York Times published an incredibly stupid and erroneous front page article on testing breakthroughs in Alzheimer's disease. This article talked about Biomarkers and was attacked immediately by numerous scientists (including myself) for being “misleading” and “inaccurate.” (Though The Times hasn’t printed a retraction yet, they started a Blog in response to our criticisms about the article. I suppose The Times assumed that if we had the chance to vent, we would go away. We won't!)Then within the week, Lilly Pharmaceuticals stopped a major Alzheimer's phase-3 clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s drug that was based on the beta amyloid theory. The drug, called semagacestat, initially showed great promise but ended up making the disease worse!The public should keep in mind that the discovery of biomarkers and the development of pharmaceutical drugs capable of being called a "cure or treatment for Alzheimer's disease" are two entirely different things. As of the moment that I am writing this on August 31, 2010, THERE IS NO CURE for Alzheimer’s disease. Anyone who touts a “cure” for this horrible disease on the Web, in a vitamin store, on these Hub Pages, etc. is just selling snake oil!As for what we have to work with today in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease as physicians, which is dismal at best, The Times article gave us a glimmer of hope that progress in the treatment and cure of this horrible disease will progress more rapidly.The truth really is that unless someone in the pharmaceutical industry or academia makes a "mistake" in their research that rivals Fleming and really starts to push the ball forward, I will be long dead and buried before a "cure" or even a real "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is available.Dr. Ken Romeo is known as "The Alzheimer's Doc." He owns and operates an in-home senior health care company that specializes in Alzheimer's care in Reno, Nevada. Dr. Romeo is also the Lead Physician for the United States Olympic Boxing Team.http://www.TheAlzheimersDoc.com
A Sad Way To Make A Buck
Just a few short weeks ago The New York Times published an incredibly stupid and erroneous front page article on testing breakthroughs in Alzheimer's disease. This article talked about Biomarkers and was attacked immediately by numerous scientists (including myself) for being “misleading” and “inaccurate.” (Though The Times hasn’t printed a retraction yet, they started a Blog in response to our criticisms about the article. I suppose The Times assumed that if we had the chance to vent, we would go away. We won't!)Then within the week, Lilly Pharmaceuticals stopped a major Alzheimer's phase-3 clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s drug that was based on the beta amyloid theory. The drug, called semagacestat, initially showed great promise but ended up making the disease worse!The public should keep in mind that the discovery of biomarkers and the development of pharmaceutical drugs capable of being called a "cure or treatment for Alzheimer's disease" are two entirely different things. As of the moment that I am writing this on August 31, 2010, THERE IS NO CURE for Alzheimer’s disease. Anyone who touts a “cure” for this horrible disease on the Web, in a vitamin store, on these Hub Pages, etc. is just selling snake oil!As for what we have to work with today in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease as physicians, which is dismal at best, The Times article gave us a glimmer of hope that progress in the treatment and cure of this horrible disease will progress more rapidly.The truth really is that unless someone in the pharmaceutical industry or academia makes a "mistake" in their research that rivals Fleming and really starts to push the ball forward, I will be long dead and buried before a "cure" or even a real "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is available.Dr. Ken Romeo is known as "The Alzheimer's Doc." He owns and operates an in-home senior health care company that specializes in Alzheimer's care in Reno, Nevada. Dr. Romeo is also the Lead Physician for the United States Olympic Boxing Team.http://www.TheAlzheimersDoc.com