Efforts by Phoenix-based Banner Alzheimer’s Institute (BAI) to create a new era of Alzheimer’s prevention were recently featured on the CBS show "60 Minutes."

The two-part story focused on an experimental treatment aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s in members of a community in Colombia that carry a genetic mutation that typically triggers Alzheimer's symptoms around age 45. The trial treatment provides a chance to introduce a treatment before the onset of symptoms to give it the best chance of success.

The news segment featured BAI Executive Director Eric Reiman and BAI Director Pierre Tario. It covered BAI’s key role in the effort to find effective Alzheimer’s prevention options. BAI started the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API), an international collaborative formed to evaluate promising therapies.

Through the API, BAI is currently leading two prevention trials – the aforementioned in Colombia and a multi-site international generation study that focuses on cognitively healthy older adults, ages 60 to 75, who are at high risk of developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s because of inherited genes.

BAI also leads the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry at www.endALZnow.org, an online community designed to recruit and connect adults to participate in critical prevention research.