Bill Gates hopes for progress in Alzheimer’s disease after his father’s battle

Bill Gates talks about his personal experiences Alzheimer’s disease and – and his hopes for progress to combat illness.

In an essay published this week on the GatesNotes.com blog, Microsoft co-founder Tech Billionaire (69) reflects the difficulty of spending another father’s day without his father Bill Gates Sr.

Eldergate passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after fighting Alzheimer’s disease.

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“It was a brutal experience. I was watching my wonderful, beloved father go downhill and disappear,” Gates wrote in a blog post.

Today, Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, is motivated by his own experience with general dementia and is currently working towards treating general dementia, affecting more than 7 million Americans, or more than 65, one in nine.

On his blog, Gates expressed optimism about “massive progress” made in the fight against Alzheimer’s and other dementia.

Last year, Gates said he visited Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis to visit the lab where the team is studying biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

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“I also had the opportunity to see under the hood of new automated machines that quickly perform diagnostics around the world,” he writes. “It’s an exciting time in a challenging space.”

According to Gates, one of the biggest breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s disease research is blood-based diagnostic tests, which detect the proportion of amyloid plaques. With the brain. (The amyloid plaque and protein mass that accumulate in the brain are one of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease.)

“I’m optimistic that these tests will be a game-changer,” Gates wrote.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first one Blood-based testing For patients over 55, as reported by Fox News Digital at the time.

“Simple, accurate, and easy-to-run blood tests may one day allow for routine screening.”

Traditionally, the main route to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease has been either PET scans (medical imaging) or spinal faucets (lumbar punctures), which are usually performed only when symptoms appear.

The hope is that blood-based testing can do a better job of catching the disease early, and the decline will begin.

“We now know that illness will begin 15-20 years before you start seeing the signs,” Gates writes.

“Simple, accurate and easy to run Blood test One day we may allow for routine screening and identify patients long before they experience cognitive decline,” he said.

Gates said he was often asked, “If you can’t do anything, what’s the point of being diagnosed?”

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To this end, he expressed his optimism about the future of Alzheimer’s disease, and he paid attention to it. Two drugs -Lecanemab (Leqmbi) and Donanemab (Kisunla) – FDA approved.

“Both have been proven to slow the progression of the disease slightly, but what really excites me is the possibility that it might be when paired with an early diagnosis,” Gates said.

He also said he hopes blood tests will help speed up the process of enrolling patients in new Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials.

To achieve this, Gates is looking for an increase Funding for researchoften comes from federal grants.

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“This is a moment to spend More money for researchnot less than that,” he wrote, “the quest to stop Alzheimer’s disease had no more momentum.”

“There’s still a huge amount of work to do, including deepening your understanding of disease pathology and developing better diagnosis,” Gates continued.

“I’m impressed with how much I’ve learned about Alzheimer’s over the past few years.”

Gates pointed out that when his father had Alzheimer’s, it was considered a “death sentence,” but it was beginning to change.

“I’m touched by how much I’ve learned about Alzheimer’s over the past few years,” he wrote.

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“Even with so many challenges around the world, considering all the progress made with Alzheimer’s disease, I can’t help but be filled with a sense of hope.