thats the question raised by a recent rand corporation study on
what would happen if a treatment for alzheimers disease
came on the market
well that very likely will be a reality in less than 5 years
if some of the drugs show promise in fighting this disease
get approved for use
biogen which makes the aducanumab drug i take each month
sponsored the rand corporation study
the result of the study i am in will come out in 2019
if the results are promising the drug will be approved
soon after that
they probably will go after folks who have changes in the
brain already of alzheimers they just dont know it yet
the prealzheimers or prodromal state
ie normal memory with positive scans
and
those like me with early symptoms
if you are too far long with the disease its probably too late
to get treatment
now recently in this blog i wrote titled
alzheimers news-can we afford it
that we basically may not be able to afford these treatments
at the same time we cant afford not to do them
lets say in 2020 a new treatment becomes available
there are literally thousands of people no thats millions
in just the us who will fit the criteria for treatment
eg
me when i was 55 i would have had a positive scan
thats when if not earlier i would have wanted to get treated
to get maximum effect from the drug
so what would it take to get diagnosed and evaluated
to qualify for treatment
first
you go to a doctor usually a specialist like a neurologist
a geriatrician or psychiatrist
its usually a neurologist
there arent enough of them available
now remember we are talking about several million folks
needing to see the specialists
can you imagine the back load of appointments just to get
seen
then
the work up will include probably the amyvid pet scan
for the beta amyloid
its the stuff that the aducanumab removes
remember we are talking millions of people here
after finally getting into the neurologist
now need the amyvid pet scan
there are not enough scanners that do this in the us
to do all the scans that will need to be done
can you imagine the delay its going to take to get
your diagnosis
then
this stuff will probably be given in infusion centers
the ones where things like
chemotherapy is done
infusions for ms connective tissue diseases like rheumatoid
lupus ulcerative colitis psoriasis etc
you can see the backlog that will build up just to get the infusion
whenever you finally get diagnosed
then
especially early on
will there be enough drug available for all these folks who
will need treatment
the rand corporations conclusion is that it will probably take
18 months to get seen and get diagnosed before receiving
treatment
as those of us know who are familiar with alzheimers know
those two years are a long time in alzheimers time
it is predicted by the study that starting in 2020 over the
next 2 decades over 2 million people will develop alzheimers
waiting for diagnostic studies and treatments
we will be at the finish line but we wont be able to cross it
i feel like those of us needing treatment
are like charlie brown when he goes to kick that football
lucys gonna pull it away at the last minute
the organicgreen doctor
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