A moving story reveals hidden human cost of drug trials

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

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…