Proposal to enlarge Alzheimer's classification

Larrytherunner

Here is a preview of something we may see in the near future. The Alzheimer's Association International Conference was held in August 2023 in Amsterdam. It's National Institute on Aging - Alzheimer's Association Working Group came up a proposal that could make a big difference in treatments.

Quoting from the Los Angeles Times: "Under their proposal, people with no memory problems who test positive for abnormal levels of amyloid or tau proteins would be classified as Stage 1. They would move to Stage 2 if they begin to experience "neurobehavioral difficulties" such as depression, anxiety or apathy—symptoms often unrelated to Alzheimer's—even if the patient's cognition is unchanged. Stage 3 would be for those with mild cognitive impairment, while Stages 4 through 6 would describe patients with mild, moderate or severe dementia."

In my opinion, this is a marketing ploy to get more people to participate in their expensive monoclonal antibody treatments and get the government to pay for it. The drug makers will be trying to convince people with higher than normal beta-amyloid levels that they have Alzheimer's even when there is no cognitive decline. Further, enlarging the definition of Alzheimer's would result in a huge increase in Medicare payments for these very expensive, marginally effective treatments that come with possible serious side effects.

Los Angeles Times article

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-alzheimer-people-memory-problems-benefit.html