The Business of Aging

"Breakthrough" research for Alzheimer's disease

Two new studies published in the UK medical journal The Lancet  discuss potentially better treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

Study One:
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine did a controlled trial to test the safety and success of the orally-taken drug Dimebon  (a drug once used in Russia as an antihistamine)  to see if it reduced the symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Patients were assessed over six months using a scale that measures brain function such as thinking and memory. They found that it significantly improved the course of the disease and that benefits increased over the course of 12 months. Commenting on the trial, Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "This encouraging research suggests Dimedon may be an effective treatment for the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. These initial findings imply that Dimedon could be more effective than treatments currently licensed for people with Alzheimer's, however this was a modest sized study."

According to information on wikipedia, "Dimebon appears to operate through multiple mechanisms of action, both blocking the action of neurotoxic beta-amyloid proteins and inhibiting L-type calcium channels, modulating the action of AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors, and may exert a neuroprotective effect by blocking a novel target that involves mitochondrial pores,[9] which are believed to play a role in the cell death that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases and the aging process."

Study Two:
The consensus amongst dementia scientists has always been that removing amyloid plaques was the key to defeating Alzheimer's but according to this 2nd study, that may need to be rethought.  British researchers discovered that drug vaccination can remove amyloid plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease but that this did not necessarily slow down the disease. The five-year study examined 80 patients with mild to moderate dementia who had been immunized with AN1972, a drug which acts to clear these plaques from the brain. Contrary to predictions, removal of amyloid plaques did not result in an improvement in cognitive function or survival. Several patients with complete plaque removal deteriorated severely.  Lead researcher Professor Clive Holmes of the University of Southampton said: "Our results suggest that brain deterioration can occur in Alzheimer's despite the removal of plaques. It may be that these toxic plaques trigger the neurodegeneration but don't have an ongoing role. This study opens up numerous avenues for further research."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, commented: "It is disappointing that anti-amyloid treatments did not prevent the disease's progress, but we still need to do more research into whether earlier removal of this initial 'motor' of the disease could slow its progression. These findings underline the need to take a variety of research approaches in a multi-pronged attack on this devastating disease."

Marketing to Boomers: Don't Stereotype.

Good article in a recent DMNews titled Marketers' boom town discusses marketing to Baby Boomers and how marketer's should not necessarily consider them a "senior group".

While the older boomers just started filing for Social Security benefits this year, millions of younger boomers, often called trailing edge boomers, are mistakenly categorized as seniors when in fact, many are in their late 40s and raising young children.

As Laurie Bitter says, president of JWTBoom, "There are 62-year-olds who have young children in the house — they're not just going to roll it up and retire."

Much of this is common sense and as marketer's we must define our audience carefully and adjust the messaging accordingly. It's somewhat challenging because their is a gray area (no pun intended). For example, if you are selling products and services relating to the aging population you must realize that Boomers in this case can be both direct consumers of these services as well as purchase influencers if they are themselves caring for aging parents.

This requires careful attention to the copy of your campaigns. A good example is how the NCOA positions their popular BenefitsCheckUp service - online screening screenings to help "seniors" find programs to help pay for prescription drugs, energy assistance, food stamps and more. The NCOA is careful to market the service to both older adults and those caring for older adults which can be family caregivers, social workers, etc.   Seems obvious but not all senior care marketer's are taking enough care to segment their market and adjust copy accordingly.