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No therapies have been found to significantly slow, reverse or cure Alzheimer’s disease. Currently approved drugs have had a very modest beneficial impact for certain people who have the earliest stage of the disease, called mild cognitive impairment. But truly meaningful advances – akin to the world-changing Salk polio vaccine developed at Pitt in the early 1950s – will not be made without building a strong foundation of basic science.
To address the urgent need to find solutions, Arthur S. Levine, MD, emeritus Dean of Pitt’s School of Medicine, founded the Assault on Alzheimer’s initiative. The effort aims to support and inspire talented neuroscientists as well as launch innovative research approaches to discover the root causes of the disease and how it progresses. With that invaluable information, it will be possible to devise effective interventions that hopefully will include a preventive vaccine.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 6.7 million Americans 65 years and older have the disease right now, and 12.7 million will have it by 2050. Total costs in 2023 for all individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias is an estimated $345 billion; unpaid caregiving is thought to cost an equivalent amount. Four out of 10 caregivers, typically women, have a household income below $50,000.