Alzheimer's Disease: New Drug Holds Promise

The scientific community is cautiously optimistic about a new plaque-busting drug to tackle dementia and Alzheimer's disease.  Although there are other treatments on the market, this antidote is the first shown to slow and reverse the buildup of plaque in the brain which is linked to memory loss.

The results of a multi-year trial with 166 people were reported in the journal Nature, but have been largely ignored by the mainstream media.  This Phase II trial produced tantalizing data showing the drug reduces toxic plaques in six regions of the brain and slows the progression of memory loss.

Although scientists are still grappling with questions about causes of Alzheimer's, plaques and so-called tangles are prime suspects in cell death and tissue loss associated with the disease.  That's why the drug's potential for decreasing plaque is viewed as a game-changer in Alzheimer's treatment.

Up until the ground-breaking trial, the only available treatments for Alzheimers were targeted at the symptoms rather than the underlying causes.  The drugs include inhibitors, such as Pfizer's Aricept, which slow memory loss but do not reverse the disease.

The experimental drug, manufactured by pharmaceutical company Biogen, Inc., is called aducanumab.  The drug is a monoclonal antibody, which originally was harvested from brain-healthy, older donors.  Biogen now makes the drug in its laboratory to mimic the body's immune system.

Scientists theorized that the antibodies from healthy older people had already resisted the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's.  Researchers speculated these same antibodies could be used in those with early signs of memory loss, before the ravages of brain disease rendered treatment infeasible.

The peer-reviewed data from the trail rekindled new enthusiasm by clinicians and doctors to enroll their patients in aducanumab trials.  A large Phase III study was launched in August of last year, aimed at recruiting 1,350 people for trials at 150 centers in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Phase III trials are designed to confirm the effectiveness of a drug, while monitoring its side effects and comparing it to other treatments. The results of the research will help quantify dosage levels for patients and assess the safety of the drug.

The next step will be garnering the stamp of approval from the Federal Drug Administration.  It is the last hurdle before aducanumab can be offered commercially to patients.

For many Americans, the drug cannot come to market fast enough. There are 5.1 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease.  Research from the National Institute of Aging indicates that Alzheimer's disease doubles every five years beyond age 65.

That is not good news because the lifespan of Americans is increasing. The Census Bureau projects the number of people age 65 and older will more than double by 2050 to 88.5 million Americans. In 34 years, the number of 85 and older people will leap three-fold to 19 million.

Those numbers underscore the urgency the scientific community feels to find a cure.  Alzheimer's is the most expensive disease to treat, costing more than cancer or heart disease.  Caring for those with Alzheimer's carries a price tag estimated at $236 billion for this year alone.

Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

Unfortunately, the large-scale Phase III trial for aducanumab is expected to run until 2022.  If the results remain positive, then the approval process will begin with the FDA.  That could take years, even longer.

Meanwhile, the numbers of Alzheimer's victims will grow. Whatever can be done to speed up the trials and government approval, must be done. The clock is ticking and every year without a cure brings death, heartache and financial ruin to millions of Americans.

A Killer That Stalks Seniors

Alzheimer's disease is a ticking time bomb for a nation with an aging population that keeps doubling. Unless a cure is found soon, exploding medical costs will reduce Medicare and Medicaid to rubble, buried under the weight of $1.1 trillion in expenses for care and treatment for a single disease.

That dire prediction by the national Alzheimer's Association is an estimate for the year 2050.  If that seems far fetched, consider that today there are 5.4 million Americans living with Alzheimer's. The annual cost in 2012 for the disease was $200 billion, according to data furnished by the association.

One in every eight older Americans has Alzheimer's.  It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, but it is the only one of the top ten diseases that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. While death rates for other major diseases have dipped since 2000, Alzheimer's has accelerated 66 percent.

Alzheimer's does more than extract a heavy toll on the medical system.  The Alzheimer assocation's annual report estimated that 15 million Americans today provide unpaid care for patients with the disease.  Without their help, Medicare and Medicaid would bear an additional $210 billion in costs.

As tragic as the statistics are today, the number of Americans affected by the disease is projected to mushroom.  More than 13.8 million Americans are expected to suffer from Alzheimer's by the year 2050, a three-fold increase.

An aging population is to blame.  Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, will be turning 65 and older, swelling the ranks of the aged. The number of Americans 65+ will double by 2050, growing from 40.3 million to 88.5 million, according to the 2010 Census.

Americans living longer will tax the Medicare and Medicaid programs with skyrocketing costs for the treatment of Alzheimer's.  The association estimates the combined expense burden for the two entitlement programs will soar by 500 percent by 2050, less than four decades from now.

There needs to be a sense of urgency to deal with the impending financial combustion.  Government funding for the disease was $606 million last year, far less than what the nation spends on research for HIV ($3 billion) and cancer ($6 billion).

There are obviously humanitarian reasons for the country to make Alzheimer's a priority.  The disease is a death sentence for everyone with the condition.  Saving lives will also reduce the long term care costs associated with the disease that robs people of their memory and saps their financial resources.

A public-private partnership, spearheaded by the medical community and the government, is the best hope for finding a cure.  The country needs to make it a top priority on par with the United States effort to launch a man into space.

The U.S. can't afford to wait until 2050 to deal with this issue.  By then it will be too late for the 13.8 million Americans expected to be impacted by the disease.