One in 10 people over 65 – or 5.6 million Americans – will have Alzheimer’s Disease by 2010. Without interventional therapy, the number of cases is expected to rise to 13.5 million by 2050. As a recent CMPI study found, if we delay onset of Alzheimer's by 5 years it would be worth nearly $2 trillion to the United States.
Currently one of the biggest hurdles providers and payers face when deciding which treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to prescribe and pay for is efficacy. Now the public health community may have a new tool. Scientists at Washington University have developed a test to quickly assess how effective a drug is at treating Alzheimer's disease.
Until now, determining whether a drug is working has meant measuring a patient's mental functioning over a long period of time. The new measurement tool -- called stable isotope-lined kinetics (SILK) -- takes just 36 hours.
Researchers recently developed the test to find whether an Alzheimer's drug given to healthy volunteers could reduce production of a substance known as amyloid beta. Called A-beta for short, the substance is a normal byproduct of human metabolism that builds up to unhealthy levels and forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Scientists believe it is this buildup of plaque tangles that causes the disease's characteristic mental deterioration.
The drug currently being tested is made by Eli Lilly and is in the third phase of clinical trials. Using SILK, researchers found the drug reduced the production of the troublesome A-beta.
Smooth as SILK? Perhaps. But certainly an important step forward in personalized, 21st century comparative effectiveness. A step towards achieving the four rights – the right medicine for the right patient in the right dose at the right time.
The study was released today in the online version of Annals of Neurology. The study was funded through an Eli Lilly grant.
For this sobering American pharmaco-economic data, have a look at the CMPI report, “Alzheimer’s Disease and Cost-effectiveness Analyses: Ensuring Good Value for Money?
Currently one of the biggest hurdles providers and payers face when deciding which treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to prescribe and pay for is efficacy. Now the public health community may have a new tool. Scientists at Washington University have developed a test to quickly assess how effective a drug is at treating Alzheimer's disease.
Until now, determining whether a drug is working has meant measuring a patient's mental functioning over a long period of time. The new measurement tool -- called stable isotope-lined kinetics (SILK) -- takes just 36 hours.
Researchers recently developed the test to find whether an Alzheimer's drug given to healthy volunteers could reduce production of a substance known as amyloid beta. Called A-beta for short, the substance is a normal byproduct of human metabolism that builds up to unhealthy levels and forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Scientists believe it is this buildup of plaque tangles that causes the disease's characteristic mental deterioration.
The drug currently being tested is made by Eli Lilly and is in the third phase of clinical trials. Using SILK, researchers found the drug reduced the production of the troublesome A-beta.
Smooth as SILK? Perhaps. But certainly an important step forward in personalized, 21st century comparative effectiveness. A step towards achieving the four rights – the right medicine for the right patient in the right dose at the right time.
The study was released today in the online version of Annals of Neurology. The study was funded through an Eli Lilly grant.
