Gates Package — page 1220

From: Bill Gates @bgc3.com> To: @od.nih.gov'" @od.nih.gov> Cc: Niranjan Bose @bgc3.com>, Jonah Goldman @bgc3.com> Subject: Alzheimer's update Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2018 00:55:50 -0400 Importance: Normal Dear Francis, Thank you for your continued support and guidance as I continue to think through how I can be helpful in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. I appreciate the partnership we continue to develop with NIA on the data initiative. We are also working on a number of other areas related to the disease. I'm excited to share my next step. As you may remember, when I announced my engagement in Alzheimer's disease last fall, early detection and diagnosis stood out as a key unmet need if we are going to substantially alter the course of the disease. Since then, I've learned a lot about the exciting developments in the search for a blood-based biomarker, but I've also learned about the challenges that scientists face while trying to bring these tools to market. That has informed the blog post I'll share tomorrow (I've pasted it below), which announces a new project to advance bold ideas for earlier and better diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. This project--called the Diagnostics Accelerator--is a partnership I'm excited to be part of with Leonard Lauder, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and other donors. We are adopting a new approach that brings together philanthropic capital with a venture mindset to accelerate the discovery and development of transformative tools for diagnosis of the disease. I hope this initiative can build on the good work that the community, including NIH and NIA, has done. Through this partnership, we are committed to bringing the funding, focus, and urgency required to solve this important problem. I'm eager to see what comes of it and motivated by the real potential for a breakthrough Alzheimer's diagnostic - ultimately helping us move closer to a cure. I hope you share this news with others in the field who can help bring us there. Thank you again and I am happy that our teams continue to work together. I look forward to our future collaboration and your continued leadership. Bill Why diagnosing Alzheimer's today is so difficult - and how we can do better By Bill Gates When I announced that I was investing in Alzheimer's research for the first time last fall, I thought I knew what to expect. I knew I would get to engage more deeply with the brilliant scientists and advocates working to stop Alzheimer's - and I haven't been disappointed. The things I've seen over the last seven months make me more hopeful than ever. What I didn't see coming was the amazing response I got from the Alzheimer's community at large. Because my family didn't talk publicly about my dad's diagnosis before the announcement, I had yet to experience how remarkable the support community is. So many of you have shared your personal experiences with me, both in person and online (including here on TGN). It helps to hear from others who are going through the same thing. Alzheimer's research is a frontier where we can dramatically improve human life - both the lives of people who have the disease and their loved ones. I'm optimistic that we can substantially alter the course of Alzheimer's if we make progress in several key areas. One of the biggest things we could do right now is develop a reliable, affordable, and accessible diagnostic.