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Alzheimer’s, dementia exact massive global toll (Morning Read)

A landmark report on the Global Economic Impact of Dementia finds that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are exacting a massive toll — $604 billion in 2010 — on the global economy, with the problem set to accelerate in coming years.

Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:

Alzheimer’s, dementia exact massive toll. A landmark report on the Global Economic Impact of Dementia finds that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are exacting a massive toll — $604 billion in 2010 — on the global economy, with the problem set to accelerate in coming years.

One-size-fits-all tech transfer. Negotiating a license agreement with a university can be a nightmare for biotech companies. But Cathy Innes and her team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may take the tech transfer world by storm with their latest invention: a one-size-fits-all express licensing agreement, reports Xconomy.

More ways to invest in regenerative medicine. Federal funding for embryonic stem cells may be in doubt, but venture firms see several other ways to invest in regenerative medicine, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog.

Drug prevents strokes in a-fib patients. The Food and Drug Administration Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee on Monday unanimously recommended Boehringer Ingelheim’s dabigatran etexilate to prevent stroke in patients who have atrial fibrillation.

Repeal healthacare reform! Hopeful of picking up substantial numbers of seats in the congressional elections, Republicans are developing plans to try to repeal or roll back President Obama’s new healthcare law, according to the New York Times.

Bigger, more sustainable salmon? A government-sponsored panel on Monday wrestled with some of the questions surrounding genetically modified salmon, the Chicago Tribune reported.