ML - Aspen Peak

2012 - Issue 2 - Winter

Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT POWER SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY pioneer of giving LEONARD LAUDER CREATES A VENTURE PHILANTHROPY MODEL DEDICATED TO FINDING A CURE FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE BY AMIEE WHITE M any people think Alzheimer's is a hopeless, inevitable epidemic. Just one look at the numbers and one can understand why: Al- zheimer's is expected to affect up to 16 million Americans by 2050, with one out of three US citizens impacted before the age of 80. It has the potential to drain the country's healthcare system, individual finances, and people's ability to live with dignity in their sunset years. If mediate and desperate. When this estimate is even near accurate, the urgency for a cure is im- part-time Aspen resident Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies, wanted to raise aware- ness and funds for Alzheimer's drug research, he looked no further than his own Colorado mountain community. In August, Lauder, who acts as the cochairman of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) Board of Directors with his brother Ronald, hosted a dinner reception at the Maroon Creek Club with Alison and Buzz Zaino. Aspen, says Lauder, is a key location for raising awareness and research dollars. " We have spent the past several years inviting people in Aspen to meet Dr. Howard Fillit, the ADDF's executive director and chief science officer," he says. "Everyone has said, 'How can I help, how can I help, how can I help?' One way everyone can help the lives of others—as well as his or her own life—is by supporting us in the fundraiser that we hope to be able to do in August 2013." Every dollar raised from events such as these and even small donations go toward drug discovery that may one day cure Alzheimer's. According to Lauder, in seeking a cure for the disease, there has never been a scientific way of testing whether a drug is working or not. The ADDF has sought out, and was the first group to sponsor, the drug Amyvid, which was developed by Drs. Hank Kung and Daniel Skovronsky at the University of Pennsylva- nia. Amyvid, Lauder explains, is able to show through a PET scan if a person has Alzheimer's or is on the road to it, and it gives everyone the opportu- nity to see which drugs are or are not working. It's a major breakthrough in Alzheimer's research and will significantly cut the amount of time it will take to determine a drug's effectiveness. When the drugs sponsored by the ADDF are developed, the money re- continued on page 84 82 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM Leonard Lauder tirelessly seeks ways to fund Alzheimer's drug research.

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