WP: Open the Door to Alzheimer's Cure: Research Must be Urgent Priority

[DeepModem Mom]

Open the Door to Curing Alzheimer's
Why This Research Must Become an Urgent Priority
By Robert Essner
Tuesday, June 27, 2006; Page A21

America is getting serious about preparing for the possibility of an outbreak of avian flu. Would that it could muster the same sense of urgency for a disease that is already here and is certain to become epidemic. The disease is Alzheimer's. It will claim one in 10 baby boomers, create a personal and fiscal nightmare for their families, and drain -- if not bankrupt -- state and federal health-care budgets. Medicare now pays one-third of all its health-care funds for some 4.5 million Alzheimer's patients. Are we ready for three times that number?

Alzheimer's doesn't have to be an inevitable part of aging. It is a disease for which research can find a cure, or at least a more effective treatment. In that way, it could be like HIV-AIDS -- a disease that, for most sufferers, went from a lethal diagnosis to a treatable chronic condition within six years of its discovery. One breakthrough AIDS drug rapidly led to another, because we mobilized pandemic-strength muscle against it. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration created review and approval processes that helped new therapies for AIDS reach people who needed them years ahead of what would have otherwise been possible.

The FDA now needs to give the same priority status to drugs for Alzheimer's as it has for AIDS and cancer treatments. And, the federal government needs to designate Alzheimer's as a No. 1 research priority.

If we don't do these things, the projections are staggering. Within the next five years, nearly a half-million new Alzheimer's cases will be diagnosed annually, as 78 million baby boomers reach age 65. Given those numbers, most of us will either become an Alzheimer's patient, care for one in our home or know a patient in our extended family. By robbing victims of memory, Alzheimer's strips away individuality, dignity and independence....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/26/AR2006062600978.html

[madrchsod]

1. there`s a war on terror

and there`s no money nor time to worry about what really terrorizes the people of the usa...lack of access to health care,insurance,and affordable drugs. the terror of growing old and watching a loved one sink into senility or the terror of knowing that you are ..this is my worst fear as i approach my retirement...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. My mother was a victim of Alzheimer's --

not just at her death, but for many years before.

[madrchsod]

3. both my grandmothers

spent the last 5 or so years with this..it wasn`t really understood back when i was growing up...it was just getting old,senile,or a bit daft in the head...