Penn Medicine has secured five million dollars in grants to accelerate the study and creation of enhanced dementia drugs.
"Newly approved Alzheimer’s drugs are an exciting development for patients already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, as they can slow the development of debilitating symptoms, like memory loss and impairment of judgement. But these drugs don’t prevent the disease from developing in the first place It is our hope that the collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians at Penn Medicine will build on the already groundbreaking research on dementia and help us develop treatments that can one day stop the disease in its tracks.", said David Wolk.
The Penn Institute on Aging (IOA) intends to cooperate with various teams who have identified potential targets for research into new treatments which address root causes of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). The current focus is beyond just alleviating symptoms which most existing medications aim for, according to a press release from Penn Medicine.
Around six million Americans are presently categorised as ADRD patients. This group encompasses conditions such as Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and Lewy Body dementia, according to another press release from Penn Medicine. Majority of those suffering from ADRD are 65 years or older. These collective dementia conditions cause symptoms including memory loss, impairments in language, vision, judgment, and emotional control.
Leading the research team will be David Wolk, MD, and Edward Lee, MD, PhD., co-directors of the IOA. "Normal aging and specific neurodegenerative conditions have often been studied in isolation, but as Lee and Trojanowski’s research shows many neurodegenerative diseases share similar pathology and biomarkers", said Lee according to a press release from Penn Medicine. He further emphasized that at Penn researchers working on ADRD are able to collaborate across disciplines rather than studying these conditions separately which aids them in uncovering common mechanisms like their links to the biology of aging, which can speed up the development of therapies for these conditions.
