Alzheimer’s Awareness Month: Let’s Not Stall the Search for a Cure

By Jeanette Hoffman, Patients Come First New Jersey’s Executive Director

Dear Editor:

June marks Alzheimer’s Awareness Month—a time to honor the millions of Americans affected by this devastating disease and to recommit ourselves to finding a cure. With over 180,000 New Jerseyans currently living with Alzheimer’s, the need for continued medical research has never been more urgent.

Biopharmaceutical innovation is the key to unlocking treatments and, ultimately, a cure. With the second highest concentration of scientists in the U.S., New Jersey is home to many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies that are at the epicenter of life science breakthroughs. Thanks to decades of tireless research, we’ve seen progress in medical treatments that can slow cognitive decline and improve quality of life. But we’re not there yet—and we cannot afford to lose momentum.

Unfortunately, recent efforts to implement government price controls on prescription drugs, while well-intentioned, could have the unintended consequence of stalling biopharmaceutical innovation, and as a result, a cure for Alzheimer’s. When companies are unable to recover the massive costs associated with developing new drugs—often over a decade and billions of dollars—they are forced to scale back or even abandon promising scientific research.

Read the full LTE in TAPinto Phillipsburg here.