center for cognitive health

Most doctors don't yet test for regular PET scans to measure tau or amyloid. If you have those biological markers, or are facing cognitive decline, the best way to get examined and treated right now is to take part in a clinical trial. Neurology specialist Dr. Michael Mega joins Suzanne courtesy of Athira Pharma to tell us more. Athira's compound hopes to improve patients in their clinical trial, hopefully offering beginning or middle stages to slow progression and improve their lives.

Dr. Mega says, "There's this arc of disease progression going from preclinical, when you have a positive biological marker for plaque tangles, to prodromal, when you're only mildly affected and have plaque and tangles in your brain, to full blown Alzheimer's disease. When you have family saying you can't live by yourself anymore, you've got full blown dementia. Most neurologists don't test for that. The best way to get tests for that for free are to take part in clinical trials. Why do you want to take part in a clinical trial? Well, the only way the FDA moves molecules forward through various levels of testing and into your drug store is by those kind souls, those wonderful patients and families that volunteer to take part in a clinical trial. And that's the only way that we can join the worldwide fight against Alzheimer's, to come up with a cure, is to avail ourselves to getting the word out that these clinical trials are so important."

Regarding Athira's clinical trial, Dr. Mega explains, "Athira Pharma is based in Seattle, and they have a very interesting molecule that is both a nerve growth factor activator as well as influences the anti-inflammatory process that is hoped to help slow progression, but more importantly, they're hoping for people getting better with their molecule. As you know, the drugs that are currently available in the drug store are known not to change the course of the disease. But a small group of people can symptomatically improve for a relatively short period of time. Athira is hoping to leverage their nerve growth factor mechanism in order to increase the neural communication between cells, that could be even revealed through brain wave patterns, but also insulin paper testing. And so their drug is hopefully going to offer patients who are in the beginning or the middle stage of the disease, hope to slow progression, and make their lives and their families' lives better."

Visit the Center for Cognitive Health to learn more, see details on cutting edge research, and a list of active clinical trials at their clinic. You can also call (503) 476-9788. Hear more Alzheimer's-related podcasts from Athira Pharma, as well as other shows with Dr. Michael Mega. Visit lift-adtrial.com to learn about Athira Pharma's LIFT-AD Alzheimer's Disease trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This segment looks at Alzheimer's treatments. Twenty years before you develop symptoms, we're now able to detect biomarkers for the tau and amyloid plaques. Neurology specialist Dr. Michael Mega joins Suzanne courtesy of Athira Pharma to tell us more.

Dr. Mega is the Director of the Center for Cognitive Health in Portland, OR. He has published multiple scientific papers, book chapters, and a textbook contributing to the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Dr. Mega says, "Very soon, once the FDA standardizes the laboratories that are across the country that will be up and running, measuring these blood biomarkers, we can imagine that when you go for your annual wellness check, in addition to getting your hemoglobin A1C collected as well as your cholesterol, you'll get probably a phosphor related P TAU 1 81 or P TAU 2, 17 blood biomarker to find out if you're on the slippery slope of developing Alzheimer's disease.

“Right now the FDA has not approved the laboratories across the country that will be approved to measure. For example, PA 181. Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company that has the NAAB being fast tracked that just a couple of weeks ago released their Phase 3 data supporting that it slows decline in people with early changes by 47%. They have a patent on PETA 217. So I would imagine that Lilly could share that with the rest of the medical community, if they get indication and standardization of laboratory assessments across the country. So once that happens, your primary doctor will be able to order that.”

He also talks about P tau, a phosphor-related tau, why it gets phosphorated, and what that means to your cognitive health.

Visit the Center for Cognitive Health to learn more, see details on cutting edge research, and a list of active clinical trials at their clinic. You can also call (503) 476-9788. Hear more Alzheimer's-related podcasts from Athira Pharma, as well as other shows with Dr. Michael Mega. Visit lift-adtrial.com to learn about Athira Pharma's LIFT-AD Alzheimer's Disease trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neurology specialist Dr. Michael Mega joins Suzanne courtesy of Athira Pharma to discuss the root causes of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Mega is the Director of the Center for Cognitive Health in Portland, OR. He has published multiple scientific papers, book chapters, and a textbook contributing to the field of cognitive neuroscience.

"And so how do we say disease has changed its definition from probable during life, to now definitive, by measuring the amount of plaque tangles in the living brain of our patients. So getting to those plaques and tangles can be caused by many different paths. One, you could have an autosomal dominant inherited disorder that runs in your family with 50% of the family affected. Those tend to be very rare, but that's one way to get to plaque and tangle disease or Alzheimer's disease. Other way is the foods we eat, the lifestyle we pursue, our cognitive stimulation. So all of us make these misfolded amyloid proteins, that are at first soluble, before they precipitate into the brain as plaque, but those of us that get to the disease either makes too much of them or they don't clear them properly, and they're cleared during REM sleep. So, sleep disorders are associated also with not only Parkinson's disease, Lewie body disease, but also with not clearing amyloid properly. So sleep abnormalities, not eating a healthy Mediterranean style diet, being under stress at work or at home, not having cognitive stimulation that keeps your brain active during aging, having diabetes, having heart disease. There's many different roads to get to Alzheimer's. What is the real cause? Well, it's multifactorial, which has been the reason, the main reason, why it's so hard to treat this disorder."

He emphasizes that there are many ways of developing Alzheimer's disease. Developing medications may be able to remove the amyloid beta proteins and prevent this sort of cognitive decline. We're getting closer to proving the hypothesis that amyloids are the cause of Alzheimer's. He feels that upcoming medications may be used in the future more for prevention instead of treatment.

Visit the Center for Cognitive Health to learn more, see details on cutting edge research, and a list of active clinical trials at their clinic. You can also call (503) 476-9788. Hear more Alzheimer's-related podcasts from Athira Pharma, as well as other shows with Dr. Michael Mega. Visit lift-adtrial.com to learn about Athira Pharma's LIFT-AD Alzheimer's Disease trial. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.