The Evolving Management Landscape in Alzheimer’s Disease

Faculty

Sharon Cohen, MD, FRCPC
Medical Director, Toronto Memory Program
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Consultant Neurologist, North York General
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Target Audience

The educational design of this activity addresses the needs of physicians, nurse practitioners, and other allied health care professionals who treat patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Educational Objective

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

• Discuss clinically relevant aspects of AD pathophysiology, including amyloid β and tau
• Describe challenges, results, and future directions with emerging therapies for AD

Statement of Need

AD is a common neurodegenerative condition that results in a range of profoundly disabling cognitive, affective, and behavioral symptoms. It affects approximately 5.8 million Americans.1 Barring significant clinical efforts and medical breakthroughs that prevent or slow disease development, current estimates suggest that by 2050, AD will afflict 14 million patients in the United States.¹ Clearly, the development of AD is complex, presenting a target-rich clinical environment for both diagnostic approaches and therapeutic interventions. Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the primary pathophysiologic characteristics of AD.² Among other approaches, amyloid-targeted therapies have been directed toward protofibrils, monomers, oligomers, and existing plaques.³ Neurofibrillary tangles have emerged as another therapeutic target over the last several years, including agents targeting tau expression, stabilizing tau conformations, or clearing tau aggregates.⁴ Thus far, amyloid-targeted therapies are further advanced in clinical development, and as the potential for approval grows, clinicians must be aware of mechanism of action, clinical trial data, and patient selection. In this activity, Dr. Cohen reviews the pathophysiology of AD, individual therapeutic targets, and amyloid- and tau-directed therapies as well as other therapeutic approaches.

References

1. Alzheimer’s Association. 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures.
   https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf. Accessed April 6, 2021.
2. Jeong S. Mol Cells. 2017;40(9):613-620.
3. Panza F, et al. Nat Rev Neurol. 2019;15(2):73-88.
4. Graham WV, et al. Annu Rev Med. 2017;68:413-430.

Physician Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Global Education Group (Global) and Integritas Communications. Global is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physician Credit Designation

Global designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nurse Practitioner Continuing Education

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Accreditation Standards of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) through the joint providership of Global Education Group and Integritas Communications. Global Education Group is accredited by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as an approved provider of nurse practitioner continuing education. Provider number: 110121. This activity is approved for 0.5 contact hour (which includes 0.2 hour of pharmacology).

Term of Offering

This activity was released on April 21, 2021 and is valid for 1 year. Requests for credit must be made no later than April 21, 2022.

Global Contact Information

For information about the accreditation of this activity, please contact Global at 303-395-1782 or cme@globaleducationgroup.com.

Integritas Communications Contact Information

For all other questions about this activity, please contact Integritas Communications at info@exchangecme.com.

Instructions to Receive Credit

In order to receive credit for this activity, the participant must complete the preactivity questionnaire, view the educational content, score 70% or better on the posttest, and complete the program evaluation.

Fee Information & Refund/Cancellation Policy

There is no fee for this educational activity.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Global adheres to the policies and guidelines, including the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education (CE), set forth to providers by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and all other professional organizations, as applicable, stating those activities where continuing education credits are awarded must be balanced, independent, objective, and scientifically rigorous. All persons in a position to control the content of an accredited continuing education program provided by Global are required to disclose all financial relationships with any ineligible company within the past 24 months to Global. All financial relationships reported are identified as relevant and mitigated by Global in accordance with the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited CE in advance of delivery of the activity to learners. The content of this activity was vetted by Global to assure objectivity and that the activity is free of commercial bias.

All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.

The faculty have the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Sharon Cohen, MD, FRCPC: Nothing to disclose

The planners and managers have the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Kristin Delisi, NP, Lindsay Borvansky, Andrea Funk, Liddy Knight, Ashley Cann, Gena Dolson, MS, Stacey JP Ullman, MHS

System Requirements

PC
Microsoft Windows 2000 SE or above.
Internet Explorer (v5.5 or greater), Chrome, or Firefox

MAC
MAC OS 10.2.8
Safari
Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Global and Integritas Communications do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization associated with this activity. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of patient conditions and possible contraindications or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.