Marwan Sabbagh, MD, FAAN, CCRI - Expert Perspectives on the Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and the Promise of Novel Therapies on the Horizon

Go online to PeerView.com/FMQ860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating yet highly prevalent condition, affecting 10% of people older than 65 years and increasing in global prevalence as the world’s population ages. Given the heavy economic and societal burdens of AD, major emphasis has been placed on finding disease-modifying therapies that can successfully delay or prevent the progression of AD. Although several hypotheses have been proposed regarding the causes of AD, the amyloid cascade hypothesis and the tau propagation hypothesis have gained the most support, and there are many novel agents under investigation for the treatment of AD that target Aβ or tau in a variety of ways. Recent advances have also been made in identifying and testing biomarkers for AD that may aid in the early diagnosis of disease, facilitate patient selection for treatment, and monitor therapeutic response. This accredited PeerView on-demand activity is based on a virtual meeting that utilized the innovative Pando™ platform. A multidisciplinary panel of AD experts provides an engaging discussion on the early recognition and diagnosis of AD, current and emerging treatment options and biomarkers, and optimal multidisciplinary management of patients with AD. They also explore ways in which different members of the multidisciplinary team can help to accommodate the influx of new treatable patients that will flood the healthcare system once a disease-modifying therapy is approved for AD. Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to: Describe the rationale for screening for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to identify patients at risk for AD early in the disease course, Apply validated neuroimaging techniques and biomarkers to make etiologically based diagnoses of AD, Assess key data sets on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of available and emerging therapies for the treatment of AD, Employ a multidisciplinary team-based approach to manage the influx of patients that will need to be screened, diagnosed, and treated once a disease-modifying therapy is approved in AD.