In case you missed it, Forbes.com had a sobering reminder yesterday of the toll Alzheimer's disease has taken on our society, the importance of research - and why things may get worse before they get better:
Unless a cure is found - and there is no hope of one today - the number of sufferers from some form of dementia will triple to nearly 15 million - of whom half will be in such serious shape as to require costly 24 hour a day 7 day a week care-taking...
Despite the prevalence of this plague and the extraordinarily expensive cost of care, the amount of money earmarked for research on the disease is a fraction of what is spent on research into cancer, heart disease or HIV-AIDS. The National Institute of Health is behind the curve on Alzheimer prevention and cure, earmarking only some $450 million in funds for 2011.
And the threat of cutting the medical research budget of the nation could mean "a coming storm of untreated patients," warns Michela Gallagher, a Johns Hopkins professor in the joint fields of psychology and neuroscience. "Alzheimer's just has not been on the medical solution radar," says Gallagher. "It's a very tough challenge to find a solution, because there have been very few clinical trials," she tells me...
Previously: The long good-bye: Stanford expert discusses Alzheimer's in new podcast and Alzheimer's disease costs to soar over next 40 years
