Alzheimer's rates are high in Md., but a new drug brings hope

More than six and a half million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease, a debilitating and incurable illness. It robs people of their memory and their thinking skills, and ultimately leads to the inability to perform basic tasks. Using the Accelerated Approval Pathway, the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug called lecanemab, sold as Leqembi, which has slowed the progression of the disease in some patients in clinical trials. Joining Tom to talk about it is Dr. Leah Croll, an assistant professor of neurology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. A couple of weeks after the news of this new drug appeared, the Alzheimer’s Association announced the results of a new study about who gets Alzheimer’s, and where those populations live. It turns out that Baltimore and Prince George’s County are places with a high incidence of the disease. Joining Tom to discuss this is Dr. Kumar B. Rajan a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Director of the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging in Chicago. He’s also Section Chief of Community and Nutritional Epidemiology. He is the lead author of the study.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.