Background
6
million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, over 11 million Americans provide unpaid care for them.
2021
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ‘Aduhelm’ under the accelerated approval pathway, providing patients with access to medication when there is an expectation of benefit but with some uncertainty about that benefit and possible risks. Currently, access and availability are limited. Aduhelm, aka aducanumab, targets amyloid beta in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, and is the first disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease to be approved.
1 in 3
seniors die with Alzheimer’s or dementia. It kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
145% increase
in deaths from Alzheimer’s between 2000 and 2019, while deaths from heart disease have decreased 7.3%. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused Alzheimer’s and dementia related deaths to increase by 17%.
$321 billion
is the estimated cost of treating Alzheimer’s in the United States in 2022. Unabated by the introduction of effective disease deferring or disease modifying therapies, 14 million Americans will suffer from the disease and the cost of Alzheimer’s care will rise to $1.1 trillion in 2050, more than the current national defense budget.
(Source: Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures 2022)
