Demo Press Release: Robert Essner

Contact:
Megan Meehan, Center for Health Transformation
(202) 375-2063

For Immediate Release: November 14, 2006

Health Experts Call for Increased Commitment and Coordinated Response to Combat Imminent Alzheimer's Epidemic
A View from Science, Business, Government and Caregivers

WASHINGTON - A panel of the nation's leading health experts today called on government, academia, industry and patient advocates to take urgent, coordinated action to stem the tide of the impending Alzheimer's disease epidemic. 

Alzheimer's disease is rapidly becoming a crisis, not just for millions of families who care for those with Alzheimer's but also for the federal budget, said the panel, which convened in Washington, D.C. to discuss this growing threat.

Hosted by the Center for Health Transformation, the panel included:

• Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration;
• Robert Essner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Wyeth;
• Samuel Gandy, M.D., Ph.D, Director, Farber Institute for Neurosciences;
• Harry Johns, President and CEO, Alzheimer's Association;
• George Vradenburg, Vradenburg Foundation;
• Meryl Comer, journalist and caregiver; and
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, founder, the Center for Health Transformation.

One in 10 Americans older than 65 suffers from Alzheimer's. As the senior population grows, it is likely Alzheimer's cases could triple by 2050 to more than 13 million patients.

"To eradicate Alzheimer's, we need to make it America's number-one research priority, much like the concerted national effort that we have pledged against a potential flu pandemic," Essner said. "We need the public and private sectors — the pharmaceutical industry, health care practitioners, the public, regulators and legislators — to call for putting pandemic-strength resources toward eradicating Alzheimer's."

The panel pointed out the budget threat presented by Alzheimer's:

• Today, one-third of the Medicare budget, or approximately $91 billion, pays for the care of some 4.5 million Alzheimer's patients. Given the trends, future generations of patients could drain state and federal healthcare budgets.  Without new treatments, some estimates place the cost of Alzheimer's to the Medicare program at more than $1 trillion per year by 2050.
 
• Neither private insurance nor government programs cover all the expenses associated with Alzheimer's care. Caregiver families typically spend about $19,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs to take care of loved ones.  Often, children of Alzheimer's patients are caught in the middle, helping support both their children and their parents.

"Unless we are willing to make a serious commitment to curing Alzheimer's, the future does not look bright for Americans who suffer from this disease, their families, nor the taxpayers who will carry the extraordinary burden of caring for a dramatically expanding  Alzheimer's population," Gingrich said.

However, the panel said that with a strong commitment, breakthroughs that could slow or even end this epidemic soon may be within reach.

"For the first time in the history of medicine, we can seriously contemplate rational, evidence-based interventions in the basic pathogenesis of Alzheimer's," Gandy said. "Over 100 clinical trials are in progress, but many more will be required and many more could be done with renewed and sustained support. Yet, ignorance of the coming epidemic and the ongoing neglect of the potential for effective intervention could guarantee our children and our grandchildren a cataclysmic failure of the nation's health care system — all because of this one disease."

About the Center for Health Transformation (CHT)

The Center for Health Transformation, founded by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is a unique collaboration of public and private sector leaders dedicated to accelerating the adoption of transformational solutions, policies, and technologies in order to create a 21st Century Intelligent Health and Healthcare System characterized by better outcomes and more choices at lower cost. For more information on the Center, please visit www.healthtransformation.net.