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Research Offers Hope For Those With Alzheimer’s

Posted 1/21/2011

Today, the cost of caring for Alzheimer's patients is $172 billion a year. By 2050, the cost will explode to over $1 trillion annually.

(NAPSI) - There’s both challenging and hopeful news concerning Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a disease that strikes mostly seniors, robbing its victims of their memory. The disease can incapacitate people for a decade or more and finally rob them of their lives.

Cases expected to grow

The number of cases of the disease is expected to triple in 40 years because the condition is associated with aging, and people the world over are living longer.

It’s now estimated that 5.1 million Americans may one day have Alzheimer’s disease. That’s according to a new report produced by the Alzheimer’s Association and Maria Shriver. By 2050, given the aging of America, that number is expected to grow to 13.5 million.

America’s economy will be a victim, too. Today, the cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients is $172 billion a year. By 2050, the cost will explode to over $1 trillion annually-nearly 25 times more than this year’s budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

Research and treatment

Fortunately, there is hope. The hope, experts say, lies with medical science. A better understanding of the disease has opened new pathways of exploration for a treatment or cure.

For example, scientists can now peer into the brains of patients through new imaging techniques that were greatly assisted by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a collaborative project begun in 2004 involving biopharmaceutical research companies, medical device companies, nonprofits, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Today, America’s biopharmaceutical companies have nearly 100 possible medicines for dementia, mostly Alzheimer’s, either in clinical trials or under FDA review. Drug development is a risky business. Despite average investments of over $1 billion for each new medicine, there are no guarantees of success. But the historic number of new medicines in development is bringing new hope.

New medicines may cut costs

A treatment that could merely delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years would cut the expected number of victims from 13.5 million in 2050 to 7.7 million. That hypothetical treatment would cut costs by $447 billion in the year 2050.

A treatment that could prevent or cure Alzheimer’s-that’s the main goal. For many scientists who work for America’s biopharmaceutical companies, the fight against Alzheimer’s is a daily battle they mean to win.

For more information, visit www.PhRMA.org. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) may be able to help those who are uninsured and having trouble paying for their medicines. Learn more at www.PPARx.org.

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