Young Bay-Area Biotech Company Sets Its Eye On Elusive Alzheimer’s Cure
The firm is taking a different path than most with its drug: It plans to develop a treatment that would bolster the brain’s own immune cells to clear out multiple damaging proteins.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Biotech Firm Chases Medicine’s White Whale: Alzheimer’s Cure
Alector, a 4-year-old biotechnology company in the heart of the Bay Area’s booming biotech sector, is attempting to cure Alzheimer’s — an elusive feat that drug companies many times its size have tried and failed to achieve. (Ho, 7/25)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Santa Rosa Girl Who Uses Medical Cannabis To Treat Seizures Seeks Admission To Rincon Valley School
Currently, states like Maine, New Jersey and Colorado have made exceptions for students whose doctors approve the use of medical marijuana, allowing parents or authorized caregivers to administer the drug. California Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, pushed for similar legislation in February, introducing a bill that would give schools the option to allow parents or guardians to administer medical marijuana to their children. But the bill, currently in the California Assembly, would prohibit the medication from being kept at schools. Jana Adams said her daughter wouldn’t benefit from the proposed legislation because the seizures happen sporadically and need to be immediately treated with the THC oil, rather than wait several minutes for her to reach the school in an emergency. (Chavez, 7/24)