Alzheimer’s Disease Backgrounder
America's biopharmaceutical companies recognize that Alzheimer's is a growing threat to our nation's physical and economic health.
Of the nearly 40 million Americans aged 65 or over today, more than 5 million suffer from Alzheimer's-a terrible disease that robs patients of their memories and even their own identity before ending their lives.
For patients and their families, Alzheimer's is already a curse and a crisis. But as the Baby Boomers age and America's elderly population more than doubles, Alzheimer's will become a national emergency.
If no new treatments are found that can prevent, arrest or cure the disease, by 2050, the number of those afflicted with Alzheimer's will rise to 13.5 million.
Medical progress is key to avoiding what will otherwise be a source of great suffering and economic devastation.
Currently, about 11 million Americans provide 12.5 billion hours of uncompensated care to friends and relatives with Alzheimer's. Still, the cost to the health care system totals $172 billion.
If no new treatments are found, the swelling numbers of Alzheimer's patients will push the annual bill to $1.08 trillion by 2050. That's more than today's entire defense budget, and 25 times more than we are spending this year on the Department of Homeland Security.
We are committed to raising awareness of the coming crisis and are devoting billions of dollars to researching and developing new treatments.
America's biopharmaceutical companies today have 98 medicines in later stages of development for dementia, mostly Alzheimer's. All 98 are either in clinical trials or awaiting FDA approval.
Policies that support Innovation are critical to our future.
The work of brand name biopharmaceutical companies has improved the lives and health of millions of people, preventing devastating illness and turning diseases that were once death sentences into conditions that can be managed.
Every day, an untold number of our researchers show up at work with just one goal on their minds: find a way to prevent, arrest or cure Alzheimer's disease. This sustained investment comes at a time when the drug development process is increasingly expensive, time-consuming and risky. It currently takes an average of 10 to 15 years and more than $1 billion to develop just one new medicine.
We're proud to say that the biopharmaceutical industry is the most R&D-intensive sector in the country. In the last five years, our companies-which account for 80% of global biotech R&D-have invested more than $224 billion on researching and developing new medicines.