Health experts reflect on new FDA-approved Alzheimer's blood test

For the first time in decades, researchers said they are making progress in the fight against Alzheimer's.

June is Alzheimer's Awareness Month, putting a spotlight on a disease that shakes the lives of countless families across the state. Data shows over 130,000 Missourians currently suffer from Alzheimer's or related dementia.

After decades of failed trials, MU Health Care neurologist Dr. David Beversdorf said researchers have recorded several recent breakthroughs.

"Let's put it this way, it's been 25 years of nothing," Beversdorf said. "We're starting to turn a corner on this disease."

According to Beversdorf, over the last year health professionals have introduced several successful drugs to help treat the disease, along with an innovative new blood test. Approved by the FDA, the test helps diagnose patients with Alzheimer's.

Beversdorf said the blood test helps confirm the disease in patients who are already experiencing cognitive decline.

"All of us in the field are really kind of excited," Beversdorf said.

Columbia resident Ameila Cottle said she wishes the blood test was around when her husband, Brian, was diagnosed with the disease in 2012.

"It takes a lot of courage to live through a disease that steals everything about you...it steals your life, your brain, your memories," Cottle said.

Prior to the blood test, experts said patients either had to have a spinal tap or order an expensive PET scan of the brain, which Cottle said was difficult to get during her husband's journey with Alzheimer's.

Diagnosed at the age of 52, the insurance company did not immediately see the need for Brian's Alzheimer's testing, according to Cottle. She said she was forced to argue with the group to help cover the expensive PET scan.

"We had to fight with the insurance company," Cottle said.

Amid the progress, Beversdorf said the fight against Alzheimer's isn't over. he warned cuts to programs, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), could put funding for Alzheimer's research on the chopping block.

"These are the stakes. This will radically slow down the progress of this," Beversdorf said.

Cottle said the recent breakthroughs in the fight against Alzheimer's brings a new sense of hope.

"I have more hope for families now than we had then," Cottle said.