The Handoff: Your Week in Neurology News – 12/1/16

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of neurology news covering various developments in subspecialties, the pharmaceutical industry, and the overall state of health care as it affects neurologists.

— Be sure to follow Neurology Advisor’s live coverage of the 2016 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting from Houston, TX, December 2-6. Here’s what you can expect from this year’s scientific program.

— After Lilly’s failed solanezumab trial, could Alzheimer’s disease be President-elect Donald Trump’s moonshot?

— Apple is reportedly working closely with the FDA to develop a diagnostic app for Parkinson’s disease.

— Biogen and Forward Pharma are facing off this week in a patent battle over MS drug Tecfidera.

— Research focused on concussions in women is ramping up, but there’s one problem: A lack of female brains.

— The FDA has given the green light to a large, phase 3 study that will examine the use of ecstasy for the treatment of PTSD.

— UK-based Rand Corporation conducted a global analysis about the economic costs of insufficient sleep. SPOILER ALERT: The US takes the brunt, losing hundreds of billions of dollars per year, and over 1.2 million work days.

— US pharma company Curemark is undertaking a secretive and controversial trial that will test CM-AT in autistic children with normal enzyme levels.

— Thanks to a $12.2 million NIH grant, researchers will launch the Einstein Aging Study to explore the use of mobile technology to better understand risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.

— While the results of the EXPEDITION3 trial were disappointing, it doesn’t mean the door is closed on amyloid research. Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD, Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, discusses some of the next steps in the video below.