聚焦阿尔茨海默病

Spotlight on Alzheimer's Disease

阿尔茨海默病目前仍无法治愈,其在世界范围内的患病人数约3500万。到2050年,仅美国对此病的相关支出就会达到1.1万亿美元。至今为止,甚至没有任何能够减缓该疾病进程的药物上市,而现有的通过审批的药物仅能对症治疗,更不用说具有长期疗效了。尽管在该治疗领域急需取得突破,但研发资金短缺导致这一治疗领域被边缘化。几个之前很有希望并已进入后期开发阶段的药物接连失败,使人们对这一领域的预期愈加悲观。但是最近取得的一些进展又使人们对这一具有潜在价值的领域重燃希望。美国政府决定投入1.3亿美元用于该领域药物的研发,并且另外投入2600万美元用于解决一些附加问题,例如对护理人员的资助。用于筛查和治疗患者的新的诊断用药已经上市,一些针对早期阿尔茨海默病的研究也已全面展开。

Alzheimer＇s disease is a condition without a cure; it affects 35 million people worldwide and care costs in the US alone are on course to reach $1.1 trillion by 2050. To date, no drug has reached the market that is able to even slow its progress-currently approved agents treat only its symptoms, and not even those for very long. Despite the desperate need for a breakthrough, the area has been a marginalized one, with funding in very short supply. Expectations have been further dampened by the recent failures of several late-stage and previously promising agents. However, a number of recent advances have cast a more hopeful light on this potentially lucrative field. The US Government has pledged $130 million for R＆D into the disease, with a further $26 million for ancillary issues such as caret support. New diagnostic agents are entering the market that will help identify and treat patients, and a number of studies investigating the very early stages of the disease have been launched.