Alzheimer's Drugs for Everyone
More than 5 million Americans -- including an estimated 1 in 8 people over 65 years old -- suffer from Alzheimer's disease, a neurological affliction that is dreadful, costly, difficult to detect and impossible to cure. That could soon change for the better, said bioethicist Art Caplan of New York University, but the fallout will be profoundly contentious.
"We're going to see advances in the early detection of Alzheimer's. That's going to cause a huge amount of controversy and anxiety in terms of making testing available and pressures to find treatments," Caplan said. One of the most promising treatments is called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIg, which is now in phase 3 clinical trials. If it or some other Alzheimer's drug works, the demand will be immense, and it won't be easy to satisfy.
"There are things that look promising with drugs, and it's going to be a political challenge to make them," Caplan said. "IVIg is a very difficult product to make. It will take a long time to get plants up and running and through approval. We have a hard time making some simple drugs now in factories, and this stuff is an order of magnitude more complex." There may also be public pressure to make the drug affordable, setting up a collision between industry and government.
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