tv ABC7 News Getting Answers ABC May 3, 2023 3:00pm-3:31pm PDT
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today, new hope for the millions of americans suffering from alzheimer's. eli lilly says the new experimental drug can slow the progression of the mind robbing disease by a whopping 35%. what is this drug and what are its downsides? we will talk to the alzheimer's association of northern california. is the sport that your child used to love turning into more of a chore? in today's competitive world, that is all too common. university of san francisco basketball player who now runs a positive coaching sports academy has tips for parents and coaches. but first, may his heritage month. but a new national landmark report was just released, and it reveals widespread discrimination against asian americans and pacific islanders with damaging impact. joining us to share the key findings of the report
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annie lee, managing director of policy for the group chinese for affirmative action. thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me and for the opportunity to talk about our landmark report, how civil rights can protect asian americans and pacific islanders against racism. kristen: tell me why it was commissioned, what were you trying to find out? >> about the experiences asian americans have with discrimination in everyday settings. for a long time, for five point five years, i was a civil rights attorney with the u.s. department of education and office for civil. during my time, i saw very few complaints from asian americans or pacific islanders pyramid are the communities not facing this termination or they do not -- or do they not know how to report? that's why we decided to make this survey. what we found was that about half of all asian americans and pacific islanders
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have experienced a civil rights violation. really millions of us ave been unfairly fired, bullied at school, simply because of who we are. this type of discrimination is incredibly harmful. those of us who have experienced discrimination report feeling stressed, anxiety, and depression and some of us have been forced to leave our jobs, switch schools, change commutes, and avoid certain sores in order to avoid -- stores in order to avoid certain discrimination. kristen: you mentioned 49% experienced discrimination or unfair treatment. this is so sad to see. 50% of those who experience that feel sad, anxious, or it had a real mental health impact. >> correct. in addition to the mental health impacts, our report also showed that many people experienced
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strained relationships after experiencing discrimination. kristen: was there a particular story -- i know there were so many that people probably submitted along with the survey, any stories that you can share with us? >> sure, there were two workplace discrimination incidents that were really heartbreaking to me. one in which a filipino woman was marked by her coworkers for bringing filipino food for lunch. when she reported it, the higher up said nothing at work. and there was another experience by an asian american woman who was called racist and sexist slurs by her when she reported her, she was actually terminated. this is the type of discrimination our communities are going through. kristen: wow. i wonder, when she felt like she reported it to the higher ups and it didn't get her anything, if this leads us to the next key finding that you have, which is a vast percentage don't
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really report it. or if they do, they feel like the process is difficult here. >> that's exactly right. nearly half of all asian americans and pacific islanders have experienced racism. onl -- excuse me, have experienced this termination. only one in five have reported. they find the reporting process itself difficult. many don't believe that reporting would make a difference. many do not know where to go after experiencing discrimination. this signals a need for government to improve the system and do more linguist tickly and culturally appropriate outreach to our communities. kristen: just our communities or others? because i wonder if there is an aspect of people reporting it and then having others above them telling them, that's not actually discrimination or racism. >> that's true. there are several rights laws that require certain individuals, including supervisors at work, administrators and teachers at schools, they have specific requirements under the law, and
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they should also be trained in terms of how to respond when someone comes to you with a civil rights violation. kristen: i also think you were talking about many for new civil rights laws. another one of your findings is a whopping two thirds believe that they are needed. so what might that be? what kind of civil laws are we talking about? of course we have laws on the book. discrimination is illegal. >> yep, you're right. two thirds of asian americans and pacific islanders do want new civil rights laws. the language includes things like we need to expand to make sure that all businesses cannot discriminate against customers. right now only certain but -- certain businesses are covered under title ii of the civil rights act of 1964. we need to codify it in our civil rights department because language is such a barrier for many members in our community. and when it to strengthen civil
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rights data collection. it is so piecemeal across different agencies, at the federal and state level, so we really don't know what is happening in our community. it's part of the reason why this report is such a landmark one. kristen: you were talking about the different businesses and how guidelines need to cover them all. i saw in your report and indian couple that were denied at the hotel, right? >> and that is covered by title ii, they should not have had that experienced. they were thrown out of a hotel despite having a reservation, they were kicked out. the hotel clerk canceled the reservation in front of them and pushed all their bags out on the street. that should never happen. and we need our federal and other agencies to do more to vigorously enforce our civil rights. kristen: how do you encourage members of the community to report each of these things that don't feel right? i think there is that mentality also of wanting to not believe
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it was racism or discrimination that caused that negative encounter. it is so deeply ingrained, you know? >> yes. i think first up is know your rights trainings, from these civil rights agencies. 64% said comfortable reporting a violation of they had a better understanding of their rights and how to enforce them. the response ability is on our government civil rights agencies to reach out and explain, these are all of your rights, when you are shopping and taking transit, when your kids are going to school, you have a right to not be treated differently because of who you are. if that happens, this is the process, here's who to go to, here's how long it will take, here's the possible remedies that are at the ends of our investigation. all of that needs to be spelled out. kristen: what are you going to do with this report? who are you going to put it in front of, the the biden administration? >> we've already spoken to lots of people in washington, d.c. as well as california and our state
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civil rights department. there's a lot of interest from our government agencies, because i think they also want to do better. and so, this is an opportunity to launch that relationship between government, civil rights agencies, and trusted organizations. kristen: annie much for coming on today to talk about this landmark report. next, alzheimer's raters or's researchers say in your drug is the most effective treatment that's ever been seen to date. what is it? how effective is it? what are the downsides? we will talk to the alzheimer's association to (bell dinging) how's john? oh, much better. that was quite a scare. got us thinking about a lot of things. like life insurance. if something happened to either one of us, we'd really be in trouble. but where can we get coverage with john's health problems on a fixed income?
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big difference maker for people with alzheimer's, with doctors saying it provides hope of entering a new era in treating the progressive disease. earlier, i spoke with the executive director and regional leader at alzheimer's association of northern california, who explains how the drug slows cognitive and functional decline. nice to meet you, doctor edgerly. >> thanks for covering this story. kristen: it's really important. to us about this new drug. >> yeah, so we are very excited about a new report today about a drug called dananamab, it's a bit of a mouthful. but it is exciting because to date, it is apparently the most effective treatment for alzheimer's we've ever seen. what this drug does is that actually removes amyloid from the brain, a protein that is one of the culprits involved in alzheimer's, and it slowed the progression by 35% in
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individuals on the treatment, which is again the best we have ever seen. so, we are really excited, because for people in the very early stages of the disease, it may allow them to stay in that high functioning level for longer time, it could be a year or a year and a half, we still need to see the details, but we are incredibly excited by this news. kristen: how many people were in that study? then, how did you measure that slowing progression by 35%? how was that reflected? >> in this phase three clinical trial, they had about 1800 individuals. the key factors that they look at is how much amyloid is in the brain, another protein related to the symptoms of alzheimer's. they had to verify that individuals had both amyloid and
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pau. the primary focus was to remove the amyloid and then they look at cognitive testing and the range of measures you might look at, you can imagine memory, communication, ability to care for oneself, to do everyday activities. it is on those measures, both in terms of removing amyloid quite effectively, but that removing amyloid actually affected the cognitive decline that we typically see. kristen: as amyloid buildup typically the main culprit? >> it is one of the culprits. there's a lot of debate about amyloid. but generally what we view is, it is a necessary component of all -- it's not the only factor, but it's considered to be the very first change that you see. so we see changes in the brains of people 10 years before they develop the symptoms of all timers. they can show -- the symptoms of alzheimer's. they can show amyloid in the brain.
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then pau is affected. all these factors lead to what we know are the symptoms of alzheimer's disease. kristen: i see. the 35% slowing of progression is certainly exciting. but i know there are some downsides seen in the study, too , right? >> like any drugs in this class, monoclonal antibodies, we have to be careful about side effects in the brain. so it is very important for people to work with their doctor to see, a, if they are going to be a good candidate for this drug once it is fda approved, it is not fda approved yet, but what we have seen in other drugs like this is that they are able to identify those signs that something is a mess and take people off the drug and then those side effects go away -- amiss and take people off the drug and then those side effects go away. less than 2% of people small.
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working with your physician, you can decide if this is for them and carefully track the side effects. kristen: can you carefully describe the course of treatment? >> yes, this is an iv infusion drug. it is focused on removing amyloid from the brain. it takes place once a month. people would go into a center, it could be a hospital or an infusion center, they would receive the infusion, and then over the month, ideally it is doing is magic and removing amyloid. what was really interesting about dananamab is that patients were able to completely remove the amyloid in many cases in less than a year and go off the drug. so this is new. it's not forever. it would be just until the amyloid is removed from the brain and for some people it is less than a year of treatment. kristen: in terms of why this is so important, how many americans suffer from alzheimer's? >> there are over 6 million
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americans living with alzheimer's disease. these drugs however would be for people in the very early stages. people potentially with mild cognitive impairment which is a precursor to alzheimer's. and people with early alzheimer's. if we just look at the early, early individuals living with dementia, it may be more around a million people. ultimately of course, would like to help everybody -- we would like to help everybody. but this would be a huge step forward. kristen: what types of treatments are available now to stave off the symptoms? i understand there is no cure yet. but what is on the horizon for that as well? >> there is no way to cure alzheimer's. there are two other similar drugs that are fda approved, both focusing on amyloid, however in the pipeline, in clinical trials, there are over 100 different types of drugs being looked at. we expect over the next year, the next two years that we are
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going to see different types of treatments. right now the best thing we can all do to try to stave off alzheimer's is take care of our heart health, make sure if we have high blood pressure that we are treating that, eat well, exercise, sleep well, all of those things that are good for heart health are good for brain health, too. kristen: i understand eli lilly filed for accelerated approval from the fda based on earlier results, was not rejected? if so, why -- was not rejected? if so, why? >> it was rejected because they had to have 100 patients on the drug at the year point. as we mentioned a moment ago, patients went off the drug once the amyloid was removed. so many patients benefited so quickly, they didn't have enough subjects, they didn't have 100 subjects that they one year mark. to me it sound like a really good reason to fail in your trial. [laughter]
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it seems like it was so effective in doing its job, that it didn't need accelerated approval. so we expect traditional approval in the months to come. kristen: once that happens, what does it take and what are the steps and how long might it take to get to market? >> it could happen quite rapidly. with the other drugs that are at market, they are poised to be able to offer that immediately. so it is really a matter of months from the time it was approved to when it was out in community. the bigger thing is really access around payment. it is crucial that the center for medicare and medicaid services cover these drugs. and others down the pipeline. right now, that is not happening. we need to make sure that these drugs get paid for because that will determine for most of us whether we can get this drug. then we have to make sure he
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gets out to every community. kristen: if insurance won't cover it, i imagine that would make it out of reach for a lot of people. how much might it cost retail? >> we don't know how much it will cost. these are just the initial clinical trial results for this drug. once -- if -- assuming it gets fda approval, if and when it gets fda approval, we are going to then learn more about the details and who it is indicated for and what the pharmaceutical company is going to charge. kristen: before i let you go, we touched on how there's currently no cure -- is a cure possible, though? >> oh, gosh. you know, i think what we are really working towards is getting to the point where we can identify it early and stop it in its tracks. i think we are getting as close to that as we have ever been. it is hard to imagine that we will be able to reverse damage that has already taken place. and that is what a cure would be. but we are not going to give up on that.
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so many of those are affected, have lost loved ones to alzheimer's. i encourage people to reach out to the alzheimer's association. we have an 800 number, a website, and we are there to help support people throughout the whole course. it is about that early identification and maybe someday we will get to that point. kristen: thank you so much for coming on and sharing with us the latest. we will take a short break and be right back. we will talk about how to keep your kids active in sports without having i yeah, that's the only food. they have broccoli smoothies, and broccoli pancakes,
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and broccoli ice cream, and broccoli hotdogs, and of course, they have raw unseasoned broccoli..... with stems. -daddy, i don't want to go to las vegas with you and mommy tomorrow. oh, are you sure? are you sure you don't want to go, it will be so much fun! - life is uncertain. everyday pressures can feel overwhelming it's okay to feel stressed, anxious, worried, or frustrated. it's normal. with calhope's free and secure mental health resources, it's easy to get the help you and your loved ones need when you need it the most. call our warm line at (833) 317-4673 or live chat at calhope.org today.
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approach is me academy, thanks for joining us. >> it is such a pleasure to be here. thank you for having me. kristen: is there a lot of toxicity in youth sports today? >> such a great question. i think in the next couple of years, youth sports will get to be an $80 billion industry. when an industry got so that point and it is only focusing on winning income i think it is inevitably accurate to say that it is incredibly toxic. and it's only going to get worse. so that's a great question. kristen: so what is the impact you see young kids and their willingness to engage in sports and that kind of environment? -- in that kind of environment? >> especially for children, when the focus is not on their development and their health, their mental health, it is only natural for them to gravitate
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away from it. i think unless the environment is positive, kids have no choice but to find something else that can probably ignite a passion for them. i think it's inevitable. unless the culture is positive. kristen: that's why you started empower me academy. i know you were a player yourself at university of san francisco. then had a professional career in europe. what is your outlook and approach? what do you consider positive? how do you support the kids, as they pursue basketball or other sports? >> another great question. honestly, when it became apparent -- a parent, my son, who was now 21, i started seeing sports from a different lens. first you've got to connect with the individual and the child.
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we want to connect with an athlete not realizing that that person is showing up as a human first and an athlete second. once you can connect with that human, then you can still understand what buttons to push and how to get through to them. because at the end of the day as a coach and the mentor, you want to connect with them and get through to them so you can allow them to develop. all the attributes are going to meet in life. kristen: the typical negative things that happen in terms of their mindset, in a young athlete, what do parents need to be aware of and how to reverse that if you see it, you are self blaming, you are trying to be a perfectionist? >> we as adults need to first model the behavior we want our children to practice. i think that's the first step. just allowing them to understand that sports is a platform for them to develop into their best version and end goal. teaching them to navigate mistakes and failures.
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teaching them that the sport is not how they should truly identify themselves with. and really understanding it is about fun. having fun and enjoying themselves and learning how to connect with other people and other children from different walks of life. but it starts with us as adults, modeling the right behavior. when we watch our favorite teams and stuff like that. kristen: they learn from us. that is for sure. jerome gumbs, thank you so muc really appreciate it. >> this was such a pleasure. thank you, kristin. kristen: we will take a short break and be right back. remember you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv, and roku. just search "abc 7 bay area" and download it now.
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kristen: thank you so much for joining us today for "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 p.m. answering questions with experts from around the bay area. right now you can see on live doppler 7 we do have some showers and heavy downpours moving across the bay area. that's going to be the case for the next few hours. you will want to stay tuned because you can get the very latest forecast on abc7 news at 4 p.m. in the meantime, "world news tonight" with david muir is next. have a great day. tonight, breaking news. the urgent manhunt at this hour after a deadly shooting. the hunt underway in atlanta tonight after the deadly shooting at a medical facility there. police releasing surveillance of the suspect tonight accused of opening
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