Between 1980 and 1990, it became evident that there was an increasing number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. The devastating impact of Alzheimer’s on patients and their families is known to all of us. During that time, the Alzheimer’s Research Center at the HealthPartners Center for Memory & Aging in Regions Hospital began to develop new approaches to treating, preventing and caring for individuals with memory disorders.

In 1989, we discovered that natural therapeutics could be delivered directly from the nose to the brain along the nerves involved in smell. Bypassing of the blood brain barrier allows therapeutics to reach the brain while reducing unwanted side effects. This discovery was acknowledged by a US patent and was replicated by researchers around the world.

         Directors of the Alzheimer’s Research Center 
                      William H. Frey, II Ph.D. 
                       Leah R. Hanson, Ph.D.  

The Intranasal Insulin treatment which we developed was shown in multiple human clinical trials to improve memory in normal adults by researchers in Germany and was shown to improve memory and functioning in Alzheimer’s patients in multiple trials in the United States.