Elan Participates in Alzheimer's Association Public Policy Forum
Elan joined more than 500 scientists, patient advocates, regulators and legislators in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease last week during the Alzheimer's Association 21st Annual Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C.
The week included an “Early Stage Summit,” a candlelight vigil, patient advocate visits to members of Congress, a hearing by the Senate Committee on Aging, as well as the release of two new reports: the Alzheimer’s Association’s “2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures,” and “A National Alzheimer’s Strategic Plan” from the Alzheimer’s Study Group.
Elan President Carlos V. Paya addressed the Chairman’s Reception of the National Alzheimer’s Gala on Wednesday, saying, “let this be the year when we are empowered to bring treatments to patients with new urgency and speed.”
Acknowledging that more than a century has passed without a meaningful, disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Paya said that “Elan and Wyeth dare to believe that we can be the first to change this. Not from hubris or from corporate bravado – but from our deep commitment to science and to patients. We understand and accept the risk of being first – set-backs, skepticism and even possible failure. Yet the ultimate reward is worth the decades of work of our scientists: a treatment that may halt or even reverse the course of Alzheimer’s.”
He referenced the ongoing patient enrollment for Elan and Wyeth’s Phase 3 clinical trials for bapineuzumab, which is the most advanced anti-beta amyloid antibody approach in clinical development.
Elan and Wyeth sponsored the Chairman’s Reception, and Dr. Paya joined in the presentation of the Chairman’s Leadership Award to French President Nicolas Sarkozy – accepted by Pierre Vimont, French Ambassador to the United States – for France’s leadership in Alzheimer’s disease research.
National Alzheimer’s Disease Strategy
Elan’s Alzheimer’s Public Policy team works closely with the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Study Group, and Accelerate Cures and Treatments for AD (ACT-AD), an independent coalition of more than 50 organizations that supports accelerating research for transforming therapies to potentially slow, halt or reverse the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
On Friday, ACT-AD’s paper, “Advancing AD Drug Review as a National Priority,” was published in the March issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s & Dementia. The paper calls on the FDA and Alzheimer’s community to collaborate on increasing the number of in-line reviewers with direct neurology and Alzheimer’s disease experience in the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, as well as a possible consolidation of all agency Alzheimer’s disease review activities in a single center with a higher level of specialist expertise.
The “2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” report illustrated the growing need for action, finding:
- An estimated 5.3 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease, including 5.1 million people ages 65 and older, and 200,000 people younger than age 65.
- Alzheimer's disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.
- The direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer's and other dementias to Medicare, Medicaid and businesses amount to more than $148 billion each year.
The Alzheimer’s Study Group’s proposed national strategic plan called for improved coordination and additional federal funding to fight Alzheimer’s disease, and recommended:
- Creating a national Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative
- Launching an Alzheimer’s Care Improvement Initiative that would use value-based payments to reimburse providers for at least 20 percent of health and social services by 2012 for people with dementia, and for half of these services by 2016
- Establishing an Alzheimer’s public-private partnership by 2010 in the form of an Alzheimer’s Solutions Project Office within the federal government.
Dr. Paya praised the work of ACT-AD, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Study Group and other organizations, saying “let this be the last generation that suffers without hope from Alzheimer’s disease.”