World Alzheimer’s Day: The Price of the Status Quo

By: Priscilla VanderVeer

Alzheimer’s disease takes lives, steals time with loved ones, and siphons healthcare dollars. According to the Alzheimer’s Association: 

• Deaths from Alzheimer's have more than doubled between 2000 and 2024.

• Today, more than 7 million Americans age 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s disease. 

• In 2026, the cost of health care, long-term care and hospice for people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias is expected to reach $409 billion. 

These costs will continue to grow. Without accounting for the impact of recently approved treatments or future breakthroughs, annual health and long-term care costs are projected to approach $1 trillion by 2050. That figure does not include the enormous value of unpaid care provided by family members and friends.

That’s why we need to think differently about the value of medicines. The status quo is expensive, and the costs are growing. Medicines are our best chance to lower those costs and give people back their lives. 

Today, two FDA-approved medicines can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease for some people in the early stages of the disease. They aren’t a panacea, but they can help slow disease progression.

These advances represent important steps in the quest to find more effective treatments and hopefully, one day, a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, scientists continue pursuing new approaches that could slow, stop or ultimately prevent Alzheimer’s. As No Patient Left Behind has highlighted, small biotechnology companies are part of that effort, taking scientific and financial risks in pursuit of breakthroughs that could give patients more time and families a different future.

Imagine a treatment that allows someone with Alzheimer’s disease to live longer without symptoms. That delays the need for in-patient memory care. Gives a spouse more years without becoming a full-time caregiver. Allows a daughter to stay in her job rather than leave it to care for her mother.

These benefits and avoided costs should be included when calculating the value of an Alzheimer’s medicine.

People worry that a new treatment may carry a significant price tag. But the question we need to ask is, “What is Alzheimer’s already costing without one?” Plus, like all medicines, the cure for Alzheimer’s will eventually go generic and drop drastically in price. Wages lost to caregiving and long-term care costs will never go down.

As the Alzheimer's crisis grows, we don’t have a choice between whether we’ll spend the money to treat this disease or not. We’re already paying for treatment through hospitalizations, long-term care, lost productivity, unpaid caregiving and years of diminished independence.

Our choice is whether we want to keep paying the enormous and growing cost of managing this disease, or value the science that can change its trajectory, lower costs over time, and bring hope to the millions of people living with Alzheimer’s and their families.