Scientists can beat Alzheimer’s
Will short- sighted politicians stand in their way?
More than 4,000 Pennsylvanians will lose their battle to Alzheimer’s disease this year. This debilitating condition is the sixth- leading cause of death in our state. Pennsylvania will spend an estimated $ 342 billion treating this disease between 2017 and 2030.
Nationwide, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease every 65 seconds. Nearly 6 million Americans currently live with this devastating condition. By 2050, that number could skyrocket to nearly 14 million, costing the country well over $ 1 trillion annually.
To avoid this societal tsunami, we need to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Unfortunately, our leaders in Washington are considering policies that would make it nearly impossible for scientists to develop such treatments.
The path to discovering the next breakthrough for Alzheimer’s is paved with peril. Innovative companies of all sizes have tried, but not one of the 87 programs undertaken over the past 15 years has succeeded. The cumulative estimated cost of developing a new Alzheimer’s drug is
nearly $ 6 billion — twice the cost of developing the average drug.
Despite these astronomical costs and disheartening odds, many are striving to conquer this disease. For example, my team at Cognition Therapeutics, a clinical- stage neuroscience company based in South Side, is working on a novel approach to protecting and restoring synapses — the brain’s electrical circuitry — in Alzheimer’s disease.
According to a recent report, there are 74 clinical- stage Alzheimer’s research programs underway today. These trials seek to stop, prevent or slow the progression of the disease. Small biotech companies like mine account for almost 80% of these programs.
Several government proposals threaten to stifle these advances by making it virtually impossible for research companies to attract investment dollars.
The Trump administration wants to tie Medicare drug reimbursements to the reimbursement rates in other developed countries, where government officials use price controls to keep drug costs artificially low.
Meanwhile, some in Congress want to overhaul how Medicare pays for drugs. Right now, Medicare drug prices are set through negotiations between drug makers and private payers, like insurers and hospitals. But under a proposed system known as “binding arbitration,” the government would appoint supposedly neutral arbiters to determine reimbursements.
In practice, arbiters would likely side with the government officials who appointed them and set prices well below a drug’s fair market value. Since arbiters’ decisions would be final and legally binding, companies would have no recourse to appeal these decisions.
These policies would prove disastrous for Alzheimer’s researchers, who already struggle to attract funding for their projects. From 2008 to 2017, U. S. biotech startups that research Alzheimer’s drummed up just one- 16th as much venture capital funding as startups researching cancer, even though Alzheimer’s currently costs our health care system over twice as much as cancer.
It’s important to ensure that medicines are affordable. But there won’t be any breakthrough medicines at all if we adopt policies that dissuade investors from taking a chance on risky research projects.
Brilliant scientists and savvy entrepreneurs are working tirelessly to deliver new treatments to patients in need. Painting these innovators as villains may be good politics, but it hinders their ability to save and improve lives.
We also can never lose sight of the needs of our family and friends who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease — or will in the years to come. There are millions of people who, like me, have watched as the essence of a loved one slips away, as vibrancy turns into days spent staring at walls without recognizing the world around them. As we live longer, thanks in part to modern medicines, all of us face the potential that we or someone we love will be afflicted with this disease.
We are on the cusp of medical breakthroughs that will benefit current and future generations — as long as our leaders don’t discourage scientists and investors from tackling the world’s most devastating and debilitating diseases.