USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A June 4, 2015 The Daily Mail article highlighted a report from Alzheimer’s Disease International on women and dementia. According to the article, “Its Women And Dementia report says: ‘Across all regions of the world, dementia disproportionately affects women. ‘More women than men develop dementia, and a large proportion of carers are women, in both informal and formal capacities. There is little evidence of policy being put into place … in response to this.’ It points out that in Britain 61 per cent of the 800,000 people with dementia are women. And women over 60 are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia – as breast cancer.” The report was developed in collaboration withUSA2’s WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s Network.

MUST READ OPINIONS

A June 5, 2015 Echo Press opinion piece by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) underscored the need to invest in Alzheimer’s disease research and to support caregivers. According to Sen. Klobuchar, “Exciting medical advancements hold the promise of revolutionizing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We have already begun to see extraordinary results in precision medicine approaches that tailor prevention and treatment by taking into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle in other diseases, and related research for Alzheimer’s is currently under way. These investments make sense because we know that they will pay off. For example, simply delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years would significantly cut the government’s spending on care and most importantly, give people more time with their loved ones. But medical research is only part of the solution. We also need to develop policies to help caregivers meet the challenges of caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s. That’s why my bipartisan Americans Giving Care to Elders Act would give family caregivers a tax credit and other assistance to help alleviate the financial burdens that come with caring for a loved one. Alzheimer’s disease presents one of the toughest medical, economic, and social challenges facing our country. Solutions to problems this vast and devastating aren’t going to just fall out the sky. Instead, we need decisive and bold action that will bring the possibility for a cure within reach and finally end this horrific disease.”

A June 5, 2015 The New York Times opinion piece by Timothy Egan urged readers and policymakers to focus and prioritize “real fears” like Alzheimer’s disease. According to Egan, “But the fear-industrial complex continues to dominate national priorities. Over the last 14 years, the enormous apparatus that has been built up to combat terrorism — huge structural changes in American society, and a lock-hold on the federal budget — has grown only more outsize and out of proportion to the actual threat…Then comes Alzheimer’s, which kills 84,000 Americans a year. And yet, total federal research money on Alzheimer’s through the National Institutes of Health was $562 million last year. To put that in perspective, we spent almost 20 times that amount — somewhere around $10 billion — on the National Security Agency, the electronic snoops who monitor everyday phone records. For the rough equivalent of funding a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s, the government has not prevented a single terrorist attack, according to a 2014 report on the telephone-gathering colossus at the N.S.A.”

R&D SPOTLIGHT 

A June 5, 2015 Philly.com article explored the difficulties of estimating the cost of developing new drugs. According to the article, “How much does it cost to develop a new drug? The Tufts Center for Drug Developing periodically produces estimates for drugs that actually make it to market. Predictably, those estimates consistently generate a storm of criticism that the methodology behind them is opaque, and that they are, nevertheless, too high. The newest number is $2.6 billion (for 2013) - triple the estimate in 2003…However, a more interesting question is why Avorn and so many others care about these numbers in the first place. He says it is because they are used to “justify the cost of several expensive medications and to support longer periods of market exclusivity for new products.” But what is the connection between the estimates and the justification or support for anything?…There is considerable research on the rate of return to the pharmaceutical industry on new drugs, taking into account the extremely common failures of many expensive development projects. Those estimates are themselves somewhat controversial, but the general conclusion is that the return in this sector—especially in the last decade when there has been a success drought—appears to be on par with returns for similarly risky investments elsewhere in the economy.”

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY  

A June 5, 2015 NewsMax article reported on the race between Amazon, Google, and other tech companies to “get your DNA into the cloud.” According to the article, “Academic institutions and healthcare companies are picking sides between their cloud computing offerings — Google Genomics or Amazon Web Services — spurring the two to one-up each other as they win high-profile genomics business, according to interviews with researchers, industry consultants and analysts. That growth is being propelled by, among other forces, the push for personalized medicine, which aims to base treatments on a patient's DNA profile. Making that a reality will require enormous quantities of data to reveal how particular genetic profiles respond to different treatments…Amazon is hosting the Multiple Myeloma Foundation's project to collect complete-genome sequences and other data from 1,000 patients to identify new drug targets. It also won the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project, which has similar aims.”

POLICY AND POLITICS 

A June 4, 2015 The Washington Times article reported that “House conservatives unveiled another alternative to Obamacare Thursday” that included funding for Alzheimer’s research. According to the article, “Members of the Republican Study Committee said the Affordable Care Act has been a “breathtaking and spectacular failure,”…Their replacement, the American Health Care Reform Act, would eliminate Obamacare’s coverage standards and wouldn’t force people to buy insurance. Republicans would instead try to entice customers to sign up for plans by offering individuals the same tax deduction that businesses get for offering plans to their employees. The bill would allow people to stash more money in tax-advantaged Health Savings Accounts and set aside $15 billion to defeat Alzheimer’s and other diseases, reasoning that cures would result in massive savings over time.”