Can we Thwart Alzheimer's in a Decade?

Contributed by: Dennis Fortier, President, Medical Care Corporation
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In a well written opinion piece in the New York Times, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor joined with Stanley Prusiner and Ken Dychtwald to summarize the magnitude of the Alzheimer's problem and the fiscal path toward solving it.

A few interesting facts that are well publicized individually but placed effectively together in the NYTimes piece:

• 10,000 Americans will turn 65 every day for the next 19 years
• for every penny that the NIH spends on Alzheimer's research, American society spends $3.50 caring for patients with the disease
  
• the NIH spends about $3 billion on Aids research compared to only $469 million on Alzheimer's

There is a bill before congress requesting $2B in annual research funds for Alzheimer's and a dedicated official overseeing a national strategy to fight the disease. Given that the expert community generally agrees on which scientific problems must be tackled and solved in order to develop effective treatments for AD, this seems like a good cause to me.
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A better understanding and more awareness of Alzheimer's related issues can impact personal health decisions and generate significant impact across a population of aging individuals. Please use the share buttons below to spread this educational message as widely as possible.