Implementing Anti-Amyloid Therapies, Conversations with Clinical Leaders is a new webinar series — developed by the Gerontological Society of America in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association — that provides guidance to primary care providers and others for implementing recently approved therapies to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
“These medications are a total game changer. I can’t emphasize that enough,” said Paul Schulz, MD, a professor of neurology in the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “Amyloid deposition in the brain is the first step in the process for developing Alzheimer’s.”
By targeting and removing amyloid, these novel therapies are able to slow the progression of AD. And because amyloid formation is one of the first steps in the pathophysiology of AD, anti-amyloid therapies are most effective when given early in the course of the disease.
“The earlier we intervene, the more likely patients are to stay at the earlier stages. Anti-amyloid therapies can keep people at the mild cognitive impairment stage for longer periods of time,” Schutz said. “Time is brain, meaning that the sooner we can get people started on treatment, the more brain function we can preserve.”
As the new treatments have entered practice, clinicians have been able to develop pathways and protocols to rapidly identify people most likely to benefit from treatment and provide them with therapy safely and effectively.
“We now know how to find the right people and get effective medications to them early, and we see repeated evidence that these medications are slowing early disease,” said Armen J. Moughamian, MD, PhD, a neurologist at Sutter Health in San Franciso, California.
Due to a variety of factors, including misconceptions about the treatment of AD, only a small fraction of people who could benefit are receiving anti-amyloid treatment. The webinar series aims to increase awareness of their benefits, including overcoming misconceptions about the treatment of AD, address strategies for managing adverse events, and provide practical guidance for how clinicians can manage anti-amyloid therapies in their practices.
The three webinars in the series are:
- Anti-Amyloid Therapies for Alzheimer’s: Practice Considerations and Best Practices
- Charting the Course: Patient Navigation for Anti-Amyloid Alzheimer’s Therapies
- Bringing Home Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Treatment: Anti-Amyloid Therapy in Rural Communities.
Support for the webinar series was provided by Lilly.
###
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945, is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization focused on aging. It serves more than 6,000 members in over 50 countries. GSA’s vision, meaningful lives as we age, is supported by its mission to foster excellence, innovation, and collaboration to advance aging research, education, practice, and policy. GSA is home to the National Academy on an Aging Society (a nonpartisan public policy institute) and the National Center to Reframe Aging.