Alzheimer’s treatment would face obstacles
Report: Disease likely to overwhelm system
An effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease might be on the horizon. But even with approval in the next three to five years, the health care system will likely be overwhelmed, and patients may have to wait more than 18 months for diagnosis and care, according to a new report from the RAND Corp.
“Our analysis shows the health care system is nowhere near prepared to deal with this,” said Soeren Mattke, a senior scientist with RAND and a report author. “We need a drug and infrastructure to deliver it.”
The biggest problem will be the lack of qualified providers to screen the 15 million middle- aged and older Americans with the earliest signs of brain health decline, Mattke’s report concludes. About 5 million Americans currently have the fatal illness, which can last a decade or more and robs people of memories and functionality.
Dr. David Holtzman said he agrees that the number of neurologists is a limiting factor.
“That is 100% correct, and I think it’s going to be worse than they say here,” said Holtzman, president of the American Neurological Association, a trade group of neurologists.
There are very few neurologists who see Alzheimer’s patients in clinic, Holtzman said, largely because the payment system doesn’t compensate doctors for the hour- plus it takes to diagnose and counsel patients with memory problems. The system will need to be changed before doctors will be able to dedicate the necessary time, he said.
Two years ago, the Alzheimer’s Association began a program to train more clinicians to address this shortfall, said Heather Snyder, senior director of medical and scientific operations for the advocacy organization: “We’re trying to get ahead of it as far as we can.”
The Rand study assumes that there will be a successful treatment for Alzheimer’s within the next few years — which some say is wishful thinking and others believe is realistic.
More than 90 experimental Alzheimer’s treatments are under development, with 15 “at least on pace to be on the market in the next five years,” said George Vradenburg, president and co- founder of the advocacy group UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.
Drug candidates in recent years have suffered one failure after another, Vradenburg said, but he remains optimistic that at least one of the drugs under development will show some effectiveness against Alzheimer’s.