From the award-winning director of Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
A film by James Keach
It’s been called the final frontier of medicine, the real health care moonshot, the holy grail of science.
Alzheimer’s disease -- the most feared of all maladies, with no way to cure, stop or even slow its insidious progression.
But now, after decades of perseverance in the lab, researchers are on the cusp of a scientific breakthrough that could be the first step toward making Alzheimer’s itself a distant memory.
In the gripping new documentary Turning Point, acclaimed filmmaker James Keach takes us inside the quest for the first medication that that could treat the underlying process of Alzheimer’s disease, more than a century after Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and cognitive skills. Along the way, we meet the people behind these grand experiments, the scientists driven as much by personal conviction as professional innovation. And we discover why medical science is never easy, often unpredictable and potentially perilous – and, as America’s preeminent scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson reminds us, always worth the pursuit.
Turning Point follows Keach’s award-winning documentary Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me, an intimate portrait of music superstar Glen Campbell’s final tour after revealing he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Keach has become a passionate advocate for Alzheimer’s disease research, and after meeting some of the researchers advancing new treatments through clinical trials, committed his storytelling genius to a second film dealing with Alzheimer’s – only this time, it’s the scientists, not the artist, who take center stage.
Turning Point takes on some of the complex issues facing our American healthcare system, including the ongoing debate over the value of medicines. The film also addresses the public health tsunami that will hit the country as Baby Boomers age, with the disease projected to nearly triple in the next 30 years.
"Turning Point is an excellent documentary that gives us an inside look at the doctors, scientists, and patients who are working to uncover the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease through clinical trials. Their determination, even in the face of setbacks, can be an inspiration to everyone affected by this devastating disease and should give us all hope that these trials are bringing us closer to a treatment. Everybody should see this film.”
- Bill Gates
Dr. Paul Aisen Director, USC Alzhiemer’s Therapeutic Research Institute
Russell Barton Sr. Advisor, Project Management, Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Randall Bateman Distinguished Professor of Neurogogy, Washington University
Lauren Emily Brunke Consultant, Project Management, Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Goldie Byrd Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, North Carolina A&T State University
Maria Carrillo Chief Science Officer, Alzheimer’s Association
Ron Cohen Founder and CEO, Acorda Therapeutics
Tom Cole Congressman, Oklahoma
Dr. Jeffrey Cummings Director, Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruvo Center
Frank Daskalos Frank is an Alzheimer’s patient in Dr. Farlow’s clinical trial, Indiana University
Helene DeCoste Patient in Dr. Reisa Sperling’s prevention trial, the A4 Study, Harvard Medical School
Anna Defelice Daughter of Pasquale Roccio.
Ronald DeMattos Distinguished Resident Fellow, Chief Scientific Officer, Neurobiologicals Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Martin Farlow Professor of Neurology, Vice Chairman of Research, Neurology Dept., Assoc. Director, Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Center
Phyllis Ferrell VP, Alzheimer’s Disease Platform Team Leader Eli Lilly and Company
Paula Garrett Senior Director, Enterprise Website Leader Eli Lilly and Company
Margaret Hamburg Former Commissioner, FDA
Dr. Harald Hampel Professor AX-UPMC Chair at Pierre and Marie Curie University, Sorbonne Universities
Janice Hitchcock Advisor, Regulatory Affairs, Eli Lilly and Company
Richard Hodes Director, National Institute on Aging, NIH
David M. Holtzman, M.D. Chairmain of Department of Neurology Washington University
Ron Insana Financial News Correspondent, CNBC
Delia Kelly Delia's late husband was an Alzheimer's patient of Dr. Salloway and donated his brain to Salloway’s study.
John Klein Chairman & CEO of Cambridge Therapeutic Technologies
John Lechleiter Former President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Eli Lilly and Company
Jeremy Levin Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Ovid Therapeutics
Hong Liu-Seifert Senior Research Advisor, Statistics, Eli Lilly and Company
Ed Markey Senator, Massachusetts
Patrick May Former Senior Research Fellow Neuroscience Discovery Research Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Lefkos Middleton Professor of Neurology, School of Public Health, Imperial College of London
Jeff Myers CEO, Medicaid Health Plans of America
Stelios Papadopoulos Chairman of the Board, Biogen Inc.
Dr. Ron Peterson Director, Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging
David Ricks Chairman, President and CEO, Eli Lilly and Company
Pasquale Rocchio Patient in Dr Martin Farlow’s research study.
Sharon Rocchio Wife of Pasquale Roccio.
Dr. Marwan Sabbagh Karsten Solheim Chair for Dementia, Professor of Neurology, Director of the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Division, Barrow Neurological Institute
Dr. Stephen Salloway Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Brown University
Dr. Dennis Selkoe Co-Director, The Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases; Chief Division of Basic Neuroscience Researchm Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurological Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Eric Siemers Distinguished Medical Fellow, Alzheimer’s Disease Team, Eli Lilly and Company
Dan Skovronsky Founder and CEO, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc, Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Reisa Sperling Professor of Neurology; Director, Center for Alzheimer’s Research & Treatment. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Karen L. Sundell Principal Research Scientist, Alzheimer’s Disease Team, Eli Lilly and Company
Olga Susi is 102 and an Alzheimer's patient in Dr. Salloway's research study.
Dr. Rudy Tanzi Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Vice- Chair, Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Meg Tirrell Reporter, CNBC
Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist, Cosmologist Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium
George Vradenburg Chairman, Us Against Alzheimer’s
Tony Ware Senior Vice President, Product Development, Eli Lilly and Company
Dr. Michael Weiner Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology, UCSF Participate in a clinical trial near you.
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Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, noted astrophysicist, author and science communicator gives insights into the nature of the scientific endeavor.
Dr. Reisa Sperling of Harvard Medical School leads a discussion with students and colleagues regarding which is more complex – the brain or the universe.
Animation showing how the new drug, Solanezumab would potentially bind to and remove amyloid plaque – a protein buildup seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Diagram of the players in the US drug pricing chain, as Commentators try to explain why the cost of prescription medicines can be so high as to be unaffordable to many members of the public.
Pasquale Rocchio and his wife/caregiver Sharon are participating in a clinical trial for a potential breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug.
Dr. Harald Hampel reviews different CT scans.
A brain scan using computed tomography (CT) is generally used in the standard evaluation for Alzheimer’s disease.
Auguste Deter was a 56 year-old German woman notable for being the first person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901.
Dr. Ron DeMattos poses with his son, who sees a connection between research scientists being superheroes. Ron is a Chief Scientific Officer of Neurobiologicals at Eli Lilly and Company.
Dr. Pat May, former Research Fellow in Neuroscience Discovery at Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. May worked to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease for over 20 years. He retired in 2014.
Phyllis Ferrell, Alzheimer’s Disease Platform Team Leader at Eli Lilly and Company speaks about the experience of being on the cusp of a significant therapeutic breakthrough.
Alzheimer’s San Diego hosted a free screening of Turning Point, an award-winning documentary about scientists on the cusp of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. After the film, there was a special panel discussion about the current research landscape with top local scientists, led by CBS News 8 Anchor Carlo Cecchetto.
CBS 8 - SAN DIEGO
9/24/2019
