Language Barrier Means Millions Of Elderly Can't Access Alzheimer's Trials

"My grandmother, Bella, a former nurse in the Ukraine, moved to the United States to help raise me when I was 7 months old. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease last year.

There was nothing to do to prevent her inexorable loss of memory and independence, her Massachusetts General Hospital memory specialist told our family, except to take a drug called memantine that slightly improves cognition in Alzheimer's patients, but does not treat the underlying disease.

Only one other type of drug, which acts on how nerve cells communicate, has been approved to treat the cognitive problems that come with Alzheimer's. Notably, both drugs have been around more than 15 years. And neither one changes the course of the disease.

While there are no drugs to treat the underlying disease, there are a number of clinical trials underway. And those trials are in desperate need of patients to enroll. Trials can be risky for patients and are far from guaranteed to help them, but there is no other way medical researchers learn whether their experimental therapies are safe and effective.

But it turns out that many patients like my grandmother, who do not speak English fluently — and millions of other immigrants, mainly Spanish speakers — can't participate".