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Valley of Forgetting review: Moving story reveals hidden human cost of drug trials

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YARUMAL, - AUGUST 18 - Alirio sits in his living room with his son Alexis, 6, snuggles in and his wife Marta. Alirio, 42, is a coffee farmer who is also a participant in the University of Antioquia study who lives near Yarumal. The study, lead by Dr. Francisco Lopera, a behavioural neurologist at Medellin's University of Antioquia, researches a local family tree with a genetic mutation that causes early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The Colombian family's genetic curse may be the world's best hope for an Alzheimer's cure. In that family tree researchers have the perfect group to study the disease and have now begin a clinical trial to see if they have a medication that might be able to delay onset. in Medellin. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Alirio, a coffee farmer and participant in the Medellín Alzheimer’s drug trials

Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Valley of Forgetting
Jennie Erin Smith (Riverhead Books)

After working in health journalism for over 10 years, I have covered countless drug trials – some runaway successes, others out-and-out failures, and everything in between. But I am ashamed to admit that I have rarely considered how these highs and lows affect the people involved.

In Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer’s families and the search for a cure, journalist Jennie Erin Smith puts them in the spotlight in her story of a…

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