What if brain health were as actionable as heart health—measured early, managed proactively, and supported by tools you can use at home? In this conversation from the Ideagen Global Leadership Summit, we bring together a startup CEO, a medtech innovator, and an age-tech investor to map a path from stigma and late-stage crisis to early detection, prevention, and real treatment options.
The discussion begins by distinguishing Alzheimer’s disease from the broader dementia syndrome, then explores how screening for mild cognitive impairment in primary care could transform lives, finances, and care plans—long before crisis hits.
We unpack the evolving therapy landscape with clarity and realism. Monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloid offer promise but face access and safety challenges. Meanwhile, noninvasive neurostimulation—precisely tuned light and sound to activate neural pathways—is showing potential as a safe, accessible complement to drug-based therapies. Combined with lifestyle interventions like sleep, exercise, and hearing care, the future looks more like coordinated, combination therapy than a single silver bullet.
But breakthroughs need systems that work. The panel gets practical about reimbursement gaps, CMS pathways, and embedding AI-driven cognitive assessments into everyday primary care. Their message to leaders: financial courage, policy alignment, and prevention-first frameworks are essential. Their message to all of us: everyone experiences cognitive change—the choice is whether to prepare.
Get your baseline, talk to your clinician, and share this conversation with someone you love. If this resonates, follow the show, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the next step you’ll take for your brain health?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_04 (00:11):
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the
Idea Gen Global LeadershipSummit.
Excited for the next panel,which is the Brain Health, an
aging innovation panel.
It's it promises to be inspiringand insightful at minimum.
(00:34):
Just gonna tee it up.
So with that, my good friend,dear friend, Phyllis Farrell
will be the moderator.
Welcome, Phyllis.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
Thank you, George.
We're so pleased to be here.
Um I wish you guys could haveheard the conversation back
stage as we were getting mic'd.
That was the fun.
Like you should have just, wehonestly we should have just
been having uh uh sharing abottle of wine here, and you
guys are gonna kind of get tojoin in in the conversation as
we were all um geeked out aboutwhat's happening in Alzheimer's
(01:02):
disease right now and brainhealth and longevity.
And we're so thankful that IdeaGen has taken this on as one of
the world's wicked problemsbecause it is.
As we've been more and moresuccessful in communicable and
non-communicable disease, umaging is the number one risk
factor for Alzheimer's diseaseand in general and brain health.
(01:24):
And it feels really good to behere alongside the United
Nations General Assembly 80thmeeting because it's only taken
us through 2011, but this yearUmgum has put dementia on the
NCD declaration.
So there's just been brainhealth in every corner here in
New York City.
So my name is Phyllis Farrell,and I have this wonderful group
(01:47):
of colleagues that I work veryclosely with.
Um I'm gonna let them eachintroduce themselves, and then
I'm going to attempt and likelyfail to moderate a conversation,
but um I'm 100% certain thatyou're going to have a lot of
fun with this one.
So, David, will you introduceyourself?
SPEAKER_00 (02:04):
Would you like me to introduce the company?
SPEAKER_03 (02:06):
Why don't you who you are and um why you're here?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
Excellent.
Well, my name is David Bates.
Uh, I'm here because I careabout brain health.
And uh I work at a companycalled Linus Health, and we have
uh built a platform for brainhealth enablement and dementia
prevention.
Uh it's an end-to-end platformfor the continuum of care.
(02:30):
It leverages artificialintelligence to really help
clinicians to care for brainhealth in their standard
workflows and really to takespecialist superpowers and
transfer them to primary careproviders so that a lot of brain
health can be addressed rightthere in primary care.
(02:51):
Um great.
SPEAKER_03 (02:52):
We're gonna let you dive in more.
So, Christian.
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Yeah, hi, it's a pleasure to meet everyone.
My name is Christian Howell.
I'm the chief executive officerof Cognito Therapeutics.
So, Cognito, the question we'retrying to answer is what if you
could provide a non-invasiveneurostimulation to the eight
million patients and theirfamilies that are suffering with
Alzheimer's disease so theycould be treated safely,
effectively, andcost-effectively in their homes.
(03:17):
Um, so we we couldn't be moreexcited to tell our story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:20):
And Abby.
Hi, everybody, I'm AbbyMiller-Levy.
I'm the managing partner ofPrimetime Partners.
We are a venture fund focusedexclusively on the topic of
aging and longevity launched in2020.
And personally, I became kind ofobsessed with this uh reality
that our population for thefirst time in human history is
shifting from a pyramid shape toan upside-down pyramid.
(03:44):
And that seismic change indemography is something that,
like climate change, we alwaysknew was gonna happen but are
unprepared for.
And there's no greater area ofpotential opportunity than brain
health to start to make sure wecan address um all of the impact
(04:04):
of aging by addressing brainhealth.
So really excited for thisconversation.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
Good.
So one of the things that Abbyalluded to is uh the shifting
demographic.
The other thing that'shappening, of course, and you
guys have already heard about ittoday, is this amazing
opportunity for the impact oftechnology, artificial
intelligence, workflow change.
I mean, we just saw about adrone that helped create rain.
(04:31):
I mean, just amazing technologyand advancement.
And the other thing that'shappening with this seismic
shift is that we don't haveenough caregivers as well.
So our health systems areoverburdened, our caregivers are
overburdened, our care staff isoverburdened.
So wherever we can usetechnology is going to be
(04:52):
important.
And then the third major chainthat's happened, and I and I
know David will talk to thisabout the importance of early
detection, is we now know,thanks to the Lancet Commission,
the finger data out of theKarolinska, and the pointer
study that was just launched inJuly by the Alzheimer's
Association, we know that over40% of dementia can be prevented
(05:12):
with lifestyle change.
So no more do we need to sitaround and say, oh, Alzheimer's
disease, dementia, this is justnormal aging.
And if it's coming for me, Ican't do anything about it.
No, the answer is we can.
And so that's what we're gonnatalk about a little bit today.
Um, the last thing I'll say is Iloved that Peter Cunio talked
(05:33):
about leadership being courage,because I try to kind of collect
people like this.
So David nicely said he worksfor Linus, he's the CEO of Linus
Health.
You want to talk about courage,you try to be the CEO of a
startup company or the foundingpartner of an age tech fund.
(05:54):
This takes courage, it takestenacity, it takes grit, and it
takes an incredible commitmentto the patients that we aim to
serve.
So, David, tell us a little bitabout what's happening around
Alzheimer's disease andcognitive impairment here in the
U.S., we'll start there.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Certainly.
So I'd just uh like to start,you know, brain health is
incredibly important.
It's amazing it's taken so longto recognize that since it's so
core to who we are.
Um, neurological disorders arethe number one disease burden in
the world.
They affect three and a halfbillion people.
Uh it's a tremendous cost.
(06:31):
Um, we talk about leadership, isit seems to be the theme of the
day.
And you know, how are we caringfor our senior population?
How much do we value?
Do we recognize they are pillarsof the community?
Um and unfortunately, you know,in the United States, um, up to
15 million people haveundiagnosed mild cognitive
(06:54):
impairment, the precursor todementia.
And they don't even know it.
They're planning a life, aretirement, that they may never
realize and they may waste awaybefore then.
And it doesn't have to be thatway.
As Phyllis mentioned, you know,up to 40, I've heard it up to
45% with therapies coming out.
(07:15):
Uh that number we fully expectto increase the number of
dementias that can be prevented.
And much like cancer, it alldepends on can you detect it
early?
Now, Linus Health, we're forlifelong brain health, but we
know we need to start with thepeople at most risk.
And so that's why we're heavilyfocused, our clinically
integrated end-to-end platform,on identifying early cognitive
(07:40):
impairment and getting thosepeople on a pathway to preserve
brain health.
Time is brain.
They say that in stroke, butit's also very real in cognitive
impairment.
And the state of play in theAlzheimer's space is is
incredible.
It is, there's more hope thanthere's ever been before.
I think one important thing Imust say is um, you know, stigma
(08:03):
is a huge uh prevention, aroadblock to all of brain
health.
Uh, we heard it earlier today,but I want to say this
Alzheimer's disease is notdementia.
Too long we've conflated thetwo.
And there may be some fear,there's some stigma.
(08:24):
Alzheimer's disease can resultin dementia, which is the
syndrome, but it doesn't alwayshave to be that way, and it can
certainly be slowed down, andthat's been shown empirically
over time.
And again, today is the the thelast worst day of the future of
Alzheimer's disease and brainhealth.
It is only getting better fromhere, and so it's important that
(08:47):
everyone engages around brainhealth and they go find out
where is my baseline, where am Itoday, and they educate
themselves and we educateproviders and drum up that
interest, drum up the desire tocare for this population, to
really promote proactive brainhealth, early detection, and
early intervention to preservebrain health and health span
(09:11):
across the lifespan.
SPEAKER_03 (09:13):
I love that you remind everybody that
Alzheimer's and dementia are twodifferent things because we do
get those very confused.
By the way, we're even sloppy inour language in the medical
field.
Um and we happen to have thismental mindset when someone says
Alzheimer's or dementia.
We think of the very lateststages of the disease, right?
(09:34):
We think of someone who's inthat moderate to late stage of
dementia, maybe a 90-year-oldwoman in a wheelchair in the
corner.
And yet we know now that theplaques, the amyloid plaques,
actually build up 10 to 20 yearsbefore symptoms.
We've been treating this diseasein the late stages.
Who wants a stage four cancerdiagnosis when they could have
(09:54):
had it at stage one?
So it's it was so fun.
Um, David and I actually got totalk to a patient uh yesterday
morning.
He's here in New York City, andhe came to one of our events.
His name's Jerry, and Jerry gotearly detection, he got early
diagnosis, he went and got a PETscan, and he was put on one of
the new therapies.
(10:15):
And Jerry just spent two monthsin Europe, just got back from
fly fishing in Montana.
He snowblowers or snowboardsnowbirds between New York City
and Florida, and was telling usabout his stock portfolio.
And he's just a mental model ofwhat happens when you catch this
disease early.
He also told us the plaque isnow undetectable in his brain.
(10:38):
So it's really incredible whatcan happen if we change this
stigma in the face.
So, Christian, I'm gonna come toyou because I hinted a little
bit at what's going on withtherapeutics.
You have a unique technologytherapeutic and medtech, but why
don't you give us a feel of thelay of the land and how you
actually think technology canchange treatment as well?
SPEAKER_01 (10:57):
Yeah, I mean it's it's amazing what's happening
now in the marketplace.
And I will say, you know, acredit to Linus, you know,
neurologists for years had aphrase which was diagnose and
adios, right?
Which was this idea that I candiagnose you, but what I I don't
have a therapy or treatment foryou.
And we've seen trulygroundbreaking therapies come to
market in just the last coupleof years, um, focusing on you
(11:19):
know with the monoclonalantibodies and and targeting
amyloid.
But what we've also found isthat there's some headwinds to
those therapies, that the thebrain can be a very challenging
organ to treat using chemistry.
The blood-brain barrier is quitethe fortress to the brain, and
um oftentimes the with drugtherapy it at times can be
(11:42):
indiscriminate.
It's looking to remove amyloid,it doesn't know whether the
amyloid is on the neuron or inthe inner lumen of a vessel.
And so what we've learned isthat chemistry is bringing real
hope, but there's also this ideathat physics can bring real
hope.
And that the central nervoussystem actually provides this
sort of very elegant on-ramp tothe brain for us to leverage in
(12:05):
order to drive activity andfunction.
And so, you know, what we'velearned at Cognito, we get to
stand on the shoulders of giantscandidly, which is there were
two sort of amazingneuroscientists at MIT that
learned, you know, an activebrain is a healthy brain, and if
you can stimulate the brain to aparticular activity level, you
can drive biology that isunbelievably important to
(12:27):
preserving cognition andfunction and creating a
neuroprotective environment.
And then they went even furtherto say, you know, how could we
do that in a way that is trulynon-invasive?
And what they learned was thatif you stimulate the optic nerve
and you stimulate the auditorynerve using sound and light,
that those nerves would actuallyreciprocate that stimulation and
(12:48):
drive activity in the brain,which could then drive biology.
So that was the foundation ofcognito, but I really do believe
cognito is just the first ofmany that are coming, that are
going to find non-invasive,non-chemical ways of driving
brain activity to promotebiology that'll be very, very
(13:09):
important for brain health.
And they will be, we will seethat this will be in
combination.
I I'm I I was saying uhbackstage, I I I totally I'll
kick my coverage with my wife,who's a radiation oncologist.
No one would go in for a cancertreatment and say, I'll just
take chemotherapy.
I'm good, I don't need theradiation.
(13:30):
We will address it this way aswell, which is we will say,
look, I want to find a way toremove the amyloid from my
brain, but I also want to find away to drive brain health and
fortify my brain against theprogression of the
neurodegenerative disease orjust the preservation of
cognition and function.
So it's an incredibly excitingtime that I think you're
actually the uh crisis is sogreat that I I am amazed, and
(13:55):
Phyllis has really been mysteward into this community, how
the North Star for everyone isthe patient.
And the it doesn't matter, we weare all looking for solutions
that can impact the patient, andwe recognize in combination it's
probably the best way to do it,which is an incredibly exciting
time.
SPEAKER_03 (14:13):
So I bet you didn't bring one of the Spectrus
devices.
I did not, sorry, I should have.
Can you tell just tell everybodywhat it looks like?
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
So it it's um it's quite cool.
It looks a little bit like uh anAR-VR headset.
Patients wear it an hour a day,every day.
There is light that is uhflashed that uh at a particular
frequency, which drives uh brainactivity, and then there is an
audible sound.
Um we are, you know, the biggestchallenge to our company is it
(14:43):
almost seems too simple to beplausible.
And so we've really taken thatchallenge on, and so we have
done five human studies.
We have just uh enrolled patient673 in the largest uh pivotal
trial that's ever, uh non-drugstudy that's ever been done in
Alzheimer's.
And what we're incrediblyexcited to see is in our
(15:04):
previous studies, and in thisone, we have a very high
adherence rate.
So we are north of 85%, meaningpatients are using it 50 minutes
a day, six days a week, and theytell us that it is uh it is
medative, it is comfortable, andthey feel empowered to take on
um the disease, which is whichis an incredible thing to hear.
SPEAKER_03 (15:24):
Well, I would sure rather do that than running for
an hour.
So I'm I'm good.
So, Abby, why the heck would youchoose to invest in this space?
Uh age tech, I mean, obviouslywe've got this booming group of
of baby boomers, yeah.
What what do we have, like10,000 turning?
12,000 now.
12,000 turning 65 every day.
(15:46):
So that sounds like a bigmarket, but it but it's not an
easy place to invest.
So why do you make this choiceand how do you define age tech?
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Uh great questions.
Um so I I echo the optimism thatwe're really at this interesting
uh time in brain health from acommercial perspective.
Uh, because again, as a venturecapitalist and and both of your
businesses are for-profit, whilewe're all motivated by the
social good of healthcare, weneed to figure out how to make
(16:16):
it sustainable by making money.
And uh I think one of thechallenges that the industry has
had is that the science wasn'tthere.
Um to have actionablerecommendations uh that really
could delay, eradicate, improvethe experience of having either
dementia or Alzheimer's.
(16:37):
We are now at the point where wethere's plenty of five studies
here.
I'm sure you've got your ownstudies, where there are
probably 40 different startups,more, 50 different startups,
with really great evidence thatthese solutions work.
But what we are missing is thereimbursement models of who pays
(17:00):
for it.
And that is complicated.
And so you ask me why I spendtime in this space, I spend time
in it because we're actuallythis great moment in history
where we have the science, wehave the technology, we have the
people, the workforce that wantsto spend time.
Neurology has become one of thebiggest major in undergraduate
(17:20):
college institutions.
I mean, the fact that my son'shigh school has a neurology
class.
When we went to high school, itwas chemistry, physics, and
biology.
Now the fourth science thatchildren are taking is
neurology.
So we have all of theseingredients, but we don't yet
have the policy, and we don'tyet have the financial uh risk,
(17:45):
financial uh bravery, courage,courage, the financial courage
to say I'm willing to spendmoney today for an outcome 10,
20 years down the road.
And so I get excited in my role,which is to say we can make some
of those risks as a venturecapitalist, to put money behind
(18:08):
all of this great momentumthat's happening, and then also
work with friends, and thePhilistine do a lot of work in
policy and on things, work withfriends to say, okay, we need to
do more.
So one of the most excitingthings that's happened in the
field is just in the past twoyears, the FDA has approved a
few drugs, and you can quibblewhether, you know, but just in
(18:29):
general, that's movement.
And a diagnostic.
And a diagnostic.
And we've got CMS approving theguide model, which is dementia
care management.
And so we have some, not a ton,but some funding starting to
funnel through to payers fortaking care of individuals and
families addressing this.
So the ingredients are there,we're just at the starting
(18:51):
point.
Like if people do make a lot ofanalogies between oncology and
AD, uh, because it does take 10,15 years to get the wheel
turning and to get thatreimbursement and the financial
model supporting all theinnovation.
Um, so you know, that's whatgets me excited is that this is
(19:12):
a time of we have most of theraw ingredients.
Uh, we're missing one importantone, but it's it's coming along.
Um, I think the other piecethat's very interesting is the
global community.
So I spend a lot of time as aninvestor in other countries and
understanding, and people useJapan all the time, which is,
(19:33):
you know, their uh number ofpeople over the age of 65 is
closer to 30%.
Ours right now is under 20,growing to 25% over the next few
years.
And so the question is,everyone's like, well, Japanese,
you know, what have they figuredout?
Um and the answer is that theyare just in the same place we
are with trying to figure outhow to fund this.
So I think that that's on theone hand discouraging, on the
(19:56):
other hand, encouraging of wherewe can try to work together in
the private sector and thepublic sector and the NGO
nonprofit sector.
All of those three pieces haveto come together to be able to
come up with some uh financialcourage.
Thank you, David, for lineediting with me.
SPEAKER_03 (20:13):
We launched um some projects across multiple
different countries, highresource countries and low and
middle income countries, and itwas interesting.
One of the leaders of Aga ConUniversity in Africa was
explaining some of the problemsthat they were dealing with.
By the way, exact same problemswe were in the US.
And he his quote, I'll use itagain and again.
He said, When it comes toAlzheimer's disease, we're all
(20:35):
developing nations.
And so I think it's reallyimportant when we think about
the idea gen mission, which isbringing together the public
sector and the private sector,the uh philanthropic sector, uh,
to really make a difference.
So, David, I want to come backto you because um you actually
face those headwinds aroundreimbursement and not even just
(20:57):
reimbursement, the the bricksand mortar of workflow.
So, for someone that wants to dohealthcare system
transformation, do you have anyadvice for them besides hair
color and lots of wine?
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, uh you know, oncology is mentioned, and
that was a 50-year journey.
We just do not have that kind oftime.
Uh Alzheimer's uh dementiatoday, it's uh in the US,$781
billion 2025, 1.5 trillion by2050.
It is unsustainable.
And so something has to happen.
(21:32):
There's no shortage of medicineand innovation.
Cognito is tremendousinnovation.
Um it is the system, it is thepolicy, and artificial
intelligence is one huge uhaspect that we have to lay hold
of in order to get theefficiency and the scale that
that's needed to address theproblem.
But your question is, you know,what about workflows, what about
(21:55):
reimbursement?
It is not for the faint of theworld.
SPEAKER_03 (21:57):
Or does technology help make that tech helps?
SPEAKER_00 (22:00):
Technology helps, uh, but it's human
relationships, finding thosepeople that have the courage,
that have the grit and thestamina to figure it out and to
remember those patients,remember those families, and you
you can never lose sight of thereason you're doing it.
And then everything else youjust figure out.
It's an engineering problem.
And it actually, the the codesexist, they they certainly can
(22:23):
be improved, but you have todesign your platform, you have
to work with those those uhclinicians, uh, with the
administrators, with all thestakeholders of health,
especially the parent, I meanthe patient and the care
partner.
Um it's it's huge.
But but it is, as I said, Imean, we're we're pushing into
the health systems, they're justthey're starting to wake up.
(22:45):
All the early movers arestarting to develop strategies.
We're seeing that in the demand,and uh, we're working with these
great champions and uh rollingout.
So I'm excited about the future,but they're still, especially at
the policy level, and just thethe strategy, brain health
strategy, the commitment and thecourage and to boldness that
we're gonna do this.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
Well, just having this conversation about mild
cognitive impairment, I thinkit's only been two or three
years that we actually had adiagnostic code for MCI that we
could use, and we still don'thave an HCC code for MCI in our
U.S.
healthcare system.
And so when you think about someof those kinds of things, it
took us 10 years to getreimbursement for amyloid pet.
(23:26):
Uh, we can't wait that long foranything else.
So, Christian, you've got a bigyear uh next year.
How are you thinking aboutintroducing technology to the
market?
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Yeah, it's it's a I'm listening to David and Abby,
I mean, I couldn't agree witheveryone more, which I mean just
to give one to the group of ofthe young students that were on
the stage earlier, one I wasincredibly impressed by you guys
when you were here.
And if I can direct you in oneplace where we have a leadership
gap, is in the healthcaresystem, right?
So that's where we need greatminds.
(23:59):
We are seeing medicine andtechnology thrive and healthcare
fail.
And that's a very importantdynamic that we need to change.
Uh, it is amazing to me to thinkthat what we are doing is using
sound and light to driveactivity in the brain in order
to express biology that is goingto help preserve cognition and
(24:21):
function.
And the challenges that mycompany faces are not
scientific, they are systemic.
And so that is amazing to me tothink about, right?
That we will, you know, this theour study will read out in uh a
year's time.
And we are incredibly hopefulthat we see a positive readout
(24:41):
and we see what we've seen inour previous studies.
We are breakthrough with the FDAand we work very closely with
them, so then we will take it tothe FDA probably at the end of
next year, and fingers crossedwe will look for what is called
a de novo approval, meaning thistechnology has never been
brought forward to the FDAbefore.
But then it becomes murky andcloudy, which is how does CMS
(25:02):
pay for it if it it's a medicaldevice, it's not a it's not a uh
a drug therapy, we havedifferent models for that.
And so I I do think thatcompanies and life science
organizations have aresponsibility here to make sure
that they are bringing robustevidence to change the system.
(25:22):
We can't ask uh CMS and payersto just simply change, but not
do our part to say, okay, we aregoing to show that we are
validated.
SPEAKER_03 (25:32):
And so you mean Sudoku and crosswords aren't
enough?
SPEAKER_01 (25:35):
Yeah, I you know, I know that they're what what's
available now, but um I meanPhyllis and I were looking at
this matter?
Phyllis and I were looking at anarticle earlier today, and it
was it was abstract and it wastheoretical, and it was it was
hopeful, but the science has tobe there.
And so, you know, I I am thefirst to hold uh some of the
(25:57):
government organizationsaccountable and the payers to
make sure that they createpathways to get this technology,
but we can't shy away from theburden that I think the
companies hold, which is to makesure that they are finding
partners that will invest thatwill allow you to explore the
clinical validity so you can goto market with real clarity on
your impact.
SPEAKER_03 (26:17):
Science matters.
I mean, that's one of thereasons why the WHO finally put
dementia in with thenon-communicable disease,
because we actually have datanow that shows that you can do
something about the diseasethrough lifestyle change.
Science matters in making surethat a diagnostic is done well.
Nobody wants to be told theyhave Alzheimer's disease if
there is a um non-validated dualgiving you that information.
(26:43):
It's a hard enough diagnosis.
SPEAKER_02 (26:44):
Well, listen, I know we're at time, but I think one
thing that I always love to sayis a hundred percent of us,
every single person in this roomwill experience some form of
brain health decline.
Like as soon as you take it froma them to a me, right, the way
the change is gonna happen isbecause we all demand it to
(27:05):
happen.
And that's when it becomes a us,not a them.
And I think that that is thepiece, and I'm not trying to
scare you, like, oh, we're allgonna have but we're all gonna
have cognitive decline.
It's just part of life.
And the question is, do we wannasit and wait for it to happen
and say there's nothing we cando?
Or has there been such amazingwork done to know there's stuff
we can do?
(27:26):
And I think once you feel thatway, that starts when you're age
10.
It doesn't start when you're 65.
This becomes, just like we talkabout heart health, and we've
had public service announcementsand major campaigns and funding
around heart health, we needthis for brain health.
And so I get really excited whenyou're in a room of people who
are nodding heads as you talkthat we are all going to be
afflicted, experiencing,challenging some sort of
(27:49):
cognitive decline in ourlifetime.
So why don't we want to take thesteps that we need to take to
make it to to to re improve thatoutcome?
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
Can I add one?
I was gonna give you each aclosing comment.
SPEAKER_03 (28:00):
But I what did I tell you?
There's no chance I was gonna beable to moderate this panel.
No.
Um well, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01 (28:06):
Sorry, and this will be my closing comment, which is,
and it's completely aligned towhat Abby was just saying, which
is if we could rewind the clock,we would have thought about the
way we adopted streaming and theimpact to obesity, or the way
that we adopted social media andthe impact to depression and
isolation.
We need to be thinking the samething about AI.
(28:26):
And I this is coming from a guywho runs a company that knows I
cannot accomplish what I'mtrying to do without AI.
But do not kid yourself, AI isnot good for brain health.
There are studies that arecoming out on this.
And so we need to be in front ofthis, saying, without question,
AI is gonna have help us solveproblems and we know we can't
solve the problems, but we alsoneed to be sensitive to the
offset to brain health and makesure we put brain health more
(28:50):
front and center, because if wedon't, it will be a calamity
that we are trying to chaserather than being a header.
SPEAKER_03 (28:58):
Absolutely.
David, why are you hopeful?
What's your closing comment?
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
My closing comment is to is to echo both of you
all.
Uh and Abby, your your point onit takes all of us.
Um, you know, brain health is socrucial, so core to who we are.
And it it's incumbent on us toum to get educated, to know what
we can do, to have a lifelongbrain health, to take agency
(29:25):
over our own brain health, um,and and to to help uh those we
care for have um optimal brainhealth as well.
And I do believe today the bestthing we can do is is tell one
another, uh, especially ourparents, people we love, just
get tested.
Establish a baseline.
(29:46):
There are therapies coming.
I'm so excited about the thefield of play, including
cognito.
There are things coming, but youwon't seek it out if you don't
know.
And so knowledge is power, brainhealth is super important.
Uh, That's my closing message.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
And I just want to thank the Idea Gen group for
always making sure that BrainHealth is on the agenda.
One of the things that's reallyspecial about everybody that's
in this room and everybodythat's watching the live stream
is that every single one of youare in a position of influence.
I don't know what chair you'rein, but you do.
You're in a chair that hasinfluence in policy, maybe you
(30:23):
have influence in capital, maybeyou have influence in getting
the word out.
You're in a position ofinfluence, and my call to action
for all of you is to have thecourage to come join us.
This needs to be a very largevoice that's across multi
sectors that's helping us solvethis problem.
And I'm just so thankful forthese guys being up here with us
(30:44):
and for all of you being with ustoday.
SPEAKER_04 (30:46):
Thank you.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the
Idea Gen Global LeadershipSummit.
Excited for the next panel,which is the Brain Health, an
aging innovation panel.
It's it promises to be inspiringand insightful at minimum.
(00:34):
Just gonna tee it up.
So with that, my good friend,dear friend, Phyllis Farrell
will be the moderator.
Welcome, Phyllis.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
Thank you, George.
We're so pleased to be here.
Um I wish you guys could haveheard the conversation back
stage as we were getting mic'd.
That was the fun.
Like you should have just, wehonestly we should have just
been having uh uh sharing abottle of wine here, and you
guys are gonna kind of get tojoin in in the conversation as
we were all um geeked out aboutwhat's happening in Alzheimer's
(01:02):
disease right now and brainhealth and longevity.
And we're so thankful that IdeaGen has taken this on as one of
the world's wicked problemsbecause it is.
As we've been more and moresuccessful in communicable and
non-communicable disease, umaging is the number one risk
factor for Alzheimer's diseaseand in general and brain health.
(01:24):
And it feels really good to behere alongside the United
Nations General Assembly 80thmeeting because it's only taken
us through 2011, but this yearUmgum has put dementia on the
NCD declaration.
So there's just been brainhealth in every corner here in
New York City.
So my name is Phyllis Farrell,and I have this wonderful group
(01:47):
of colleagues that I work veryclosely with.
Um I'm gonna let them eachintroduce themselves, and then
I'm going to attempt and likelyfail to moderate a conversation,
but um I'm 100% certain thatyou're going to have a lot of
fun with this one.
So, David, will you introduceyourself?
SPEAKER_00 (02:04):
Would you like me to introduce the company?
SPEAKER_03 (02:06):
Why don't you who you are and um why you're here?
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
Excellent.
Well, my name is David Bates.
Uh, I'm here because I careabout brain health.
And uh I work at a companycalled Linus Health, and we have
uh built a platform for brainhealth enablement and dementia
prevention.
Uh it's an end-to-end platformfor the continuum of care.
(02:30):
It leverages artificialintelligence to really help
clinicians to care for brainhealth in their standard
workflows and really to takespecialist superpowers and
transfer them to primary careproviders so that a lot of brain
health can be addressed rightthere in primary care.
(02:51):
Um great.
SPEAKER_03 (02:52):
We're gonna let you dive in more.
So, Christian.
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Yeah, hi, it's a pleasure to meet everyone.
My name is Christian Howell.
I'm the chief executive officerof Cognito Therapeutics.
So, Cognito, the question we'retrying to answer is what if you
could provide a non-invasiveneurostimulation to the eight
million patients and theirfamilies that are suffering with
Alzheimer's disease so theycould be treated safely,
effectively, andcost-effectively in their homes.
(03:17):
Um, so we we couldn't be moreexcited to tell our story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:20):
And Abby.
Hi, everybody, I'm AbbyMiller-Levy.
I'm the managing partner ofPrimetime Partners.
We are a venture fund focusedexclusively on the topic of
aging and longevity launched in2020.
And personally, I became kind ofobsessed with this uh reality
that our population for thefirst time in human history is
shifting from a pyramid shape toan upside-down pyramid.
(03:44):
And that seismic change indemography is something that,
like climate change, we alwaysknew was gonna happen but are
unprepared for.
And there's no greater area ofpotential opportunity than brain
health to start to make sure wecan address um all of the impact
(04:04):
of aging by addressing brainhealth.
So really excited for thisconversation.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
Good.
So one of the things that Abbyalluded to is uh the shifting
demographic.
The other thing that'shappening, of course, and you
guys have already heard about ittoday, is this amazing
opportunity for the impact oftechnology, artificial
intelligence, workflow change.
I mean, we just saw about adrone that helped create rain.
(04:31):
I mean, just amazing technologyand advancement.
And the other thing that'shappening with this seismic
shift is that we don't haveenough caregivers as well.
So our health systems areoverburdened, our caregivers are
overburdened, our care staff isoverburdened.
So wherever we can usetechnology is going to be
(04:52):
important.
And then the third major chainthat's happened, and I and I
know David will talk to thisabout the importance of early
detection, is we now know,thanks to the Lancet Commission,
the finger data out of theKarolinska, and the pointer
study that was just launched inJuly by the Alzheimer's
Association, we know that over40% of dementia can be prevented
(05:12):
with lifestyle change.
So no more do we need to sitaround and say, oh, Alzheimer's
disease, dementia, this is justnormal aging.
And if it's coming for me, Ican't do anything about it.
No, the answer is we can.
And so that's what we're gonnatalk about a little bit today.
Um, the last thing I'll say is Iloved that Peter Cunio talked
(05:33):
about leadership being courage,because I try to kind of collect
people like this.
So David nicely said he worksfor Linus, he's the CEO of Linus
Health.
You want to talk about courage,you try to be the CEO of a
startup company or the foundingpartner of an age tech fund.
(05:54):
This takes courage, it takestenacity, it takes grit, and it
takes an incredible commitmentto the patients that we aim to
serve.
So, David, tell us a little bitabout what's happening around
Alzheimer's disease andcognitive impairment here in the
U.S., we'll start there.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
Certainly.
So I'd just uh like to start,you know, brain health is
incredibly important.
It's amazing it's taken so longto recognize that since it's so
core to who we are.
Um, neurological disorders arethe number one disease burden in
the world.
They affect three and a halfbillion people.
Uh it's a tremendous cost.
(06:31):
Um, we talk about leadership, isit seems to be the theme of the
day.
And you know, how are we caringfor our senior population?
How much do we value?
Do we recognize they are pillarsof the community?
Um and unfortunately, you know,in the United States, um, up to
15 million people haveundiagnosed mild cognitive
(06:54):
impairment, the precursor todementia.
And they don't even know it.
They're planning a life, aretirement, that they may never
realize and they may waste awaybefore then.
And it doesn't have to be thatway.
As Phyllis mentioned, you know,up to 40, I've heard it up to
45% with therapies coming out.
(07:15):
Uh that number we fully expectto increase the number of
dementias that can be prevented.
And much like cancer, it alldepends on can you detect it
early?
Now, Linus Health, we're forlifelong brain health, but we
know we need to start with thepeople at most risk.
And so that's why we're heavilyfocused, our clinically
integrated end-to-end platform,on identifying early cognitive
(07:40):
impairment and getting thosepeople on a pathway to preserve
brain health.
Time is brain.
They say that in stroke, butit's also very real in cognitive
impairment.
And the state of play in theAlzheimer's space is is
incredible.
It is, there's more hope thanthere's ever been before.
I think one important thing Imust say is um, you know, stigma
(08:03):
is a huge uh prevention, aroadblock to all of brain
health.
Uh, we heard it earlier today,but I want to say this
Alzheimer's disease is notdementia.
Too long we've conflated thetwo.
And there may be some fear,there's some stigma.
(08:24):
Alzheimer's disease can resultin dementia, which is the
syndrome, but it doesn't alwayshave to be that way, and it can
certainly be slowed down, andthat's been shown empirically
over time.
And again, today is the the thelast worst day of the future of
Alzheimer's disease and brainhealth.
It is only getting better fromhere, and so it's important that
(08:47):
everyone engages around brainhealth and they go find out
where is my baseline, where am Itoday, and they educate
themselves and we educateproviders and drum up that
interest, drum up the desire tocare for this population, to
really promote proactive brainhealth, early detection, and
early intervention to preservebrain health and health span
(09:11):
across the lifespan.
SPEAKER_03 (09:13):
I love that you remind everybody that
Alzheimer's and dementia are twodifferent things because we do
get those very confused.
By the way, we're even sloppy inour language in the medical
field.
Um and we happen to have thismental mindset when someone says
Alzheimer's or dementia.
We think of the very lateststages of the disease, right?
(09:34):
We think of someone who's inthat moderate to late stage of
dementia, maybe a 90-year-oldwoman in a wheelchair in the
corner.
And yet we know now that theplaques, the amyloid plaques,
actually build up 10 to 20 yearsbefore symptoms.
We've been treating this diseasein the late stages.
Who wants a stage four cancerdiagnosis when they could have
(09:54):
had it at stage one?
So it's it was so fun.
Um, David and I actually got totalk to a patient uh yesterday
morning.
He's here in New York City, andhe came to one of our events.
His name's Jerry, and Jerry gotearly detection, he got early
diagnosis, he went and got a PETscan, and he was put on one of
the new therapies.
(10:15):
And Jerry just spent two monthsin Europe, just got back from
fly fishing in Montana.
He snowblowers or snowboardsnowbirds between New York City
and Florida, and was telling usabout his stock portfolio.
And he's just a mental model ofwhat happens when you catch this
disease early.
He also told us the plaque isnow undetectable in his brain.
(10:38):
So it's really incredible whatcan happen if we change this
stigma in the face.
So, Christian, I'm gonna come toyou because I hinted a little
bit at what's going on withtherapeutics.
You have a unique technologytherapeutic and medtech, but why
don't you give us a feel of thelay of the land and how you
actually think technology canchange treatment as well?
SPEAKER_01 (10:57):
Yeah, I mean it's it's amazing what's happening
now in the marketplace.
And I will say, you know, acredit to Linus, you know,
neurologists for years had aphrase which was diagnose and
adios, right?
Which was this idea that I candiagnose you, but what I I don't
have a therapy or treatment foryou.
And we've seen trulygroundbreaking therapies come to
market in just the last coupleof years, um, focusing on you
(11:19):
know with the monoclonalantibodies and and targeting
amyloid.
But what we've also found isthat there's some headwinds to
those therapies, that the thebrain can be a very challenging
organ to treat using chemistry.
The blood-brain barrier is quitethe fortress to the brain, and
um oftentimes the with drugtherapy it at times can be
(11:42):
indiscriminate.
It's looking to remove amyloid,it doesn't know whether the
amyloid is on the neuron or inthe inner lumen of a vessel.
And so what we've learned isthat chemistry is bringing real
hope, but there's also this ideathat physics can bring real
hope.
And that the central nervoussystem actually provides this
sort of very elegant on-ramp tothe brain for us to leverage in
(12:05):
order to drive activity andfunction.
And so, you know, what we'velearned at Cognito, we get to
stand on the shoulders of giantscandidly, which is there were
two sort of amazingneuroscientists at MIT that
learned, you know, an activebrain is a healthy brain, and if
you can stimulate the brain to aparticular activity level, you
can drive biology that isunbelievably important to
(12:27):
preserving cognition andfunction and creating a
neuroprotective environment.
And then they went even furtherto say, you know, how could we
do that in a way that is trulynon-invasive?
And what they learned was thatif you stimulate the optic nerve
and you stimulate the auditorynerve using sound and light,
that those nerves would actuallyreciprocate that stimulation and
(12:48):
drive activity in the brain,which could then drive biology.
So that was the foundation ofcognito, but I really do believe
cognito is just the first ofmany that are coming, that are
going to find non-invasive,non-chemical ways of driving
brain activity to promotebiology that'll be very, very
(13:09):
important for brain health.
And they will be, we will seethat this will be in
combination.
I I'm I I was saying uhbackstage, I I I totally I'll
kick my coverage with my wife,who's a radiation oncologist.
No one would go in for a cancertreatment and say, I'll just
take chemotherapy.
I'm good, I don't need theradiation.
(13:30):
We will address it this way aswell, which is we will say,
look, I want to find a way toremove the amyloid from my
brain, but I also want to find away to drive brain health and
fortify my brain against theprogression of the
neurodegenerative disease orjust the preservation of
cognition and function.
So it's an incredibly excitingtime that I think you're
actually the uh crisis is sogreat that I I am amazed, and
(13:55):
Phyllis has really been mysteward into this community, how
the North Star for everyone isthe patient.
And the it doesn't matter, we weare all looking for solutions
that can impact the patient, andwe recognize in combination it's
probably the best way to do it,which is an incredibly exciting
time.
SPEAKER_03 (14:13):
So I bet you didn't bring one of the Spectrus
devices.
I did not, sorry, I should have.
Can you tell just tell everybodywhat it looks like?
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
So it it's um it's quite cool.
It looks a little bit like uh anAR-VR headset.
Patients wear it an hour a day,every day.
There is light that is uhflashed that uh at a particular
frequency, which drives uh brainactivity, and then there is an
audible sound.
Um we are, you know, the biggestchallenge to our company is it
(14:43):
almost seems too simple to beplausible.
And so we've really taken thatchallenge on, and so we have
done five human studies.
We have just uh enrolled patient673 in the largest uh pivotal
trial that's ever, uh non-drugstudy that's ever been done in
Alzheimer's.
And what we're incrediblyexcited to see is in our
(15:04):
previous studies, and in thisone, we have a very high
adherence rate.
So we are north of 85%, meaningpatients are using it 50 minutes
a day, six days a week, and theytell us that it is uh it is
medative, it is comfortable, andthey feel empowered to take on
um the disease, which is whichis an incredible thing to hear.
SPEAKER_03 (15:24):
Well, I would sure rather do that than running for
an hour.
So I'm I'm good.
So, Abby, why the heck would youchoose to invest in this space?
Uh age tech, I mean, obviouslywe've got this booming group of
of baby boomers, yeah.
What what do we have, like10,000 turning?
12,000 now.
12,000 turning 65 every day.
(15:46):
So that sounds like a bigmarket, but it but it's not an
easy place to invest.
So why do you make this choiceand how do you define age tech?
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Uh great questions.
Um so I I echo the optimism thatwe're really at this interesting
uh time in brain health from acommercial perspective.
Uh, because again, as a venturecapitalist and and both of your
businesses are for-profit, whilewe're all motivated by the
social good of healthcare, weneed to figure out how to make
(16:16):
it sustainable by making money.
And uh I think one of thechallenges that the industry has
had is that the science wasn'tthere.
Um to have actionablerecommendations uh that really
could delay, eradicate, improvethe experience of having either
dementia or Alzheimer's.
(16:37):
We are now at the point where wethere's plenty of five studies
here.
I'm sure you've got your ownstudies, where there are
probably 40 different startups,more, 50 different startups,
with really great evidence thatthese solutions work.
But what we are missing is thereimbursement models of who pays
(17:00):
for it.
And that is complicated.
And so you ask me why I spendtime in this space, I spend time
in it because we're actuallythis great moment in history
where we have the science, wehave the technology, we have the
people, the workforce that wantsto spend time.
Neurology has become one of thebiggest major in undergraduate
(17:20):
college institutions.
I mean, the fact that my son'shigh school has a neurology
class.
When we went to high school, itwas chemistry, physics, and
biology.
Now the fourth science thatchildren are taking is
neurology.
So we have all of theseingredients, but we don't yet
have the policy, and we don'tyet have the financial uh risk,
(17:45):
financial uh bravery, courage,courage, the financial courage
to say I'm willing to spendmoney today for an outcome 10,
20 years down the road.
And so I get excited in my role,which is to say we can make some
of those risks as a venturecapitalist, to put money behind
(18:08):
all of this great momentumthat's happening, and then also
work with friends, and thePhilistine do a lot of work in
policy and on things, work withfriends to say, okay, we need to
do more.
So one of the most excitingthings that's happened in the
field is just in the past twoyears, the FDA has approved a
few drugs, and you can quibblewhether, you know, but just in
(18:29):
general, that's movement.
And a diagnostic.
And a diagnostic.
And we've got CMS approving theguide model, which is dementia
care management.
And so we have some, not a ton,but some funding starting to
funnel through to payers fortaking care of individuals and
families addressing this.
So the ingredients are there,we're just at the starting
(18:51):
point.
Like if people do make a lot ofanalogies between oncology and
AD, uh, because it does take 10,15 years to get the wheel
turning and to get thatreimbursement and the financial
model supporting all theinnovation.
Um, so you know, that's whatgets me excited is that this is
(19:12):
a time of we have most of theraw ingredients.
Uh, we're missing one importantone, but it's it's coming along.
Um, I think the other piecethat's very interesting is the
global community.
So I spend a lot of time as aninvestor in other countries and
understanding, and people useJapan all the time, which is,
(19:33):
you know, their uh number ofpeople over the age of 65 is
closer to 30%.
Ours right now is under 20,growing to 25% over the next few
years.
And so the question is,everyone's like, well, Japanese,
you know, what have they figuredout?
Um and the answer is that theyare just in the same place we
are with trying to figure outhow to fund this.
So I think that that's on theone hand discouraging, on the
(19:56):
other hand, encouraging of wherewe can try to work together in
the private sector and thepublic sector and the NGO
nonprofit sector.
All of those three pieces haveto come together to be able to
come up with some uh financialcourage.
Thank you, David, for lineediting with me.
SPEAKER_03 (20:13):
We launched um some projects across multiple
different countries, highresource countries and low and
middle income countries, and itwas interesting.
One of the leaders of Aga ConUniversity in Africa was
explaining some of the problemsthat they were dealing with.
By the way, exact same problemswe were in the US.
And he his quote, I'll use itagain and again.
He said, When it comes toAlzheimer's disease, we're all
(20:35):
developing nations.
And so I think it's reallyimportant when we think about
the idea gen mission, which isbringing together the public
sector and the private sector,the uh philanthropic sector, uh,
to really make a difference.
So, David, I want to come backto you because um you actually
face those headwinds aroundreimbursement and not even just
(20:57):
reimbursement, the the bricksand mortar of workflow.
So, for someone that wants to dohealthcare system
transformation, do you have anyadvice for them besides hair
color and lots of wine?
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, uh you know, oncology is mentioned, and
that was a 50-year journey.
We just do not have that kind oftime.
Uh Alzheimer's uh dementiatoday, it's uh in the US,$781
billion 2025, 1.5 trillion by2050.
It is unsustainable.
And so something has to happen.
(21:32):
There's no shortage of medicineand innovation.
Cognito is tremendousinnovation.
Um it is the system, it is thepolicy, and artificial
intelligence is one huge uhaspect that we have to lay hold
of in order to get theefficiency and the scale that
that's needed to address theproblem.
But your question is, you know,what about workflows, what about
(21:55):
reimbursement?
It is not for the faint of theworld.
SPEAKER_03 (21:57):
Or does technology help make that tech helps?
SPEAKER_00 (22:00):
Technology helps, uh, but it's human
relationships, finding thosepeople that have the courage,
that have the grit and thestamina to figure it out and to
remember those patients,remember those families, and you
you can never lose sight of thereason you're doing it.
And then everything else youjust figure out.
It's an engineering problem.
And it actually, the the codesexist, they they certainly can
(22:23):
be improved, but you have todesign your platform, you have
to work with those those uhclinicians, uh, with the
administrators, with all thestakeholders of health,
especially the parent, I meanthe patient and the care
partner.
Um it's it's huge.
But but it is, as I said, Imean, we're we're pushing into
the health systems, they're justthey're starting to wake up.
(22:45):
All the early movers arestarting to develop strategies.
We're seeing that in the demand,and uh, we're working with these
great champions and uh rollingout.
So I'm excited about the future,but they're still, especially at
the policy level, and just thethe strategy, brain health
strategy, the commitment and thecourage and to boldness that
we're gonna do this.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
Well, just having this conversation about mild
cognitive impairment, I thinkit's only been two or three
years that we actually had adiagnostic code for MCI that we
could use, and we still don'thave an HCC code for MCI in our
U.S.
healthcare system.
And so when you think about someof those kinds of things, it
took us 10 years to getreimbursement for amyloid pet.
(23:26):
Uh, we can't wait that long foranything else.
So, Christian, you've got a bigyear uh next year.
How are you thinking aboutintroducing technology to the
market?
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Yeah, it's it's a I'm listening to David and Abby,
I mean, I couldn't agree witheveryone more, which I mean just
to give one to the group of ofthe young students that were on
the stage earlier, one I wasincredibly impressed by you guys
when you were here.
And if I can direct you in oneplace where we have a leadership
gap, is in the healthcaresystem, right?
So that's where we need greatminds.
(23:59):
We are seeing medicine andtechnology thrive and healthcare
fail.
And that's a very importantdynamic that we need to change.
Uh, it is amazing to me to thinkthat what we are doing is using
sound and light to driveactivity in the brain in order
to express biology that is goingto help preserve cognition and
(24:21):
function.
And the challenges that mycompany faces are not
scientific, they are systemic.
And so that is amazing to me tothink about, right?
That we will, you know, this theour study will read out in uh a
year's time.
And we are incredibly hopefulthat we see a positive readout
(24:41):
and we see what we've seen inour previous studies.
We are breakthrough with the FDAand we work very closely with
them, so then we will take it tothe FDA probably at the end of
next year, and fingers crossedwe will look for what is called
a de novo approval, meaning thistechnology has never been
brought forward to the FDAbefore.
But then it becomes murky andcloudy, which is how does CMS
(25:02):
pay for it if it it's a medicaldevice, it's not a it's not a uh
a drug therapy, we havedifferent models for that.
And so I I do think thatcompanies and life science
organizations have aresponsibility here to make sure
that they are bringing robustevidence to change the system.
(25:22):
We can't ask uh CMS and payersto just simply change, but not
do our part to say, okay, we aregoing to show that we are
validated.
SPEAKER_03 (25:32):
And so you mean Sudoku and crosswords aren't
enough?
SPEAKER_01 (25:35):
Yeah, I you know, I know that they're what what's
available now, but um I meanPhyllis and I were looking at
this matter?
Phyllis and I were looking at anarticle earlier today, and it
was it was abstract and it wastheoretical, and it was it was
hopeful, but the science has tobe there.
And so, you know, I I am thefirst to hold uh some of the
(25:57):
government organizationsaccountable and the payers to
make sure that they createpathways to get this technology,
but we can't shy away from theburden that I think the
companies hold, which is to makesure that they are finding
partners that will invest thatwill allow you to explore the
clinical validity so you can goto market with real clarity on
your impact.
SPEAKER_03 (26:17):
Science matters.
I mean, that's one of thereasons why the WHO finally put
dementia in with thenon-communicable disease,
because we actually have datanow that shows that you can do
something about the diseasethrough lifestyle change.
Science matters in making surethat a diagnostic is done well.
Nobody wants to be told theyhave Alzheimer's disease if
there is a um non-validated dualgiving you that information.
(26:43):
It's a hard enough diagnosis.
SPEAKER_02 (26:44):
Well, listen, I know we're at time, but I think one
thing that I always love to sayis a hundred percent of us,
every single person in this roomwill experience some form of
brain health decline.
Like as soon as you take it froma them to a me, right, the way
the change is gonna happen isbecause we all demand it to
(27:05):
happen.
And that's when it becomes a us,not a them.
And I think that that is thepiece, and I'm not trying to
scare you, like, oh, we're allgonna have but we're all gonna
have cognitive decline.
It's just part of life.
And the question is, do we wannasit and wait for it to happen
and say there's nothing we cando?
Or has there been such amazingwork done to know there's stuff
we can do?
(27:26):
And I think once you feel thatway, that starts when you're age
10.
It doesn't start when you're 65.
This becomes, just like we talkabout heart health, and we've
had public service announcementsand major campaigns and funding
around heart health, we needthis for brain health.
And so I get really excited whenyou're in a room of people who
are nodding heads as you talkthat we are all going to be
afflicted, experiencing,challenging some sort of
(27:49):
cognitive decline in ourlifetime.
So why don't we want to take thesteps that we need to take to
make it to to to re improve thatoutcome?
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
Can I add one?
I was gonna give you each aclosing comment.
SPEAKER_03 (28:00):
But I what did I tell you?
There's no chance I was gonna beable to moderate this panel.
No.
Um well, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01 (28:06):
Sorry, and this will be my closing comment, which is,
and it's completely aligned towhat Abby was just saying, which
is if we could rewind the clock,we would have thought about the
way we adopted streaming and theimpact to obesity, or the way
that we adopted social media andthe impact to depression and
isolation.
We need to be thinking the samething about AI.
(28:26):
And I this is coming from a guywho runs a company that knows I
cannot accomplish what I'mtrying to do without AI.
But do not kid yourself, AI isnot good for brain health.
There are studies that arecoming out on this.
And so we need to be in front ofthis, saying, without question,
AI is gonna have help us solveproblems and we know we can't
solve the problems, but we alsoneed to be sensitive to the
offset to brain health and makesure we put brain health more
(28:50):
front and center, because if wedon't, it will be a calamity
that we are trying to chaserather than being a header.
SPEAKER_03 (28:58):
Absolutely.
David, why are you hopeful?
What's your closing comment?
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
My closing comment is to is to echo both of you
all.
Uh and Abby, your your point onit takes all of us.
Um, you know, brain health is socrucial, so core to who we are.
And it it's incumbent on us toum to get educated, to know what
we can do, to have a lifelongbrain health, to take agency
(29:25):
over our own brain health, um,and and to to help uh those we
care for have um optimal brainhealth as well.
And I do believe today the bestthing we can do is is tell one
another, uh, especially ourparents, people we love, just
get tested.
Establish a baseline.
(29:46):
There are therapies coming.
I'm so excited about the thefield of play, including
cognito.
There are things coming, but youwon't seek it out if you don't
know.
And so knowledge is power, brainhealth is super important.
Uh, That's my closing message.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
And I just want to thank the Idea Gen group for
always making sure that BrainHealth is on the agenda.
One of the things that's reallyspecial about everybody that's
in this room and everybodythat's watching the live stream
is that every single one of youare in a position of influence.
I don't know what chair you'rein, but you do.
You're in a chair that hasinfluence in policy, maybe you
(30:23):
have influence in capital, maybeyou have influence in getting
the word out.
You're in a position ofinfluence, and my call to action
for all of you is to have thecourage to come join us.
This needs to be a very largevoice that's across multi
sectors that's helping us solvethis problem.
And I'm just so thankful forthese guys being up here with us
(30:44):
and for all of you being with ustoday.
SPEAKER_04 (30:46):
Thank you.
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