The toll of Alzheimer’s disease is well known: People lose the ability to recognize loved ones and typically cannot care for themselves. The disease eventually smothers the memories and personality traits that made each person unique.
About 44 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Nearly one in 10 Americans over 70 has the deadly disease. It is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 134,000 people a year.
But they are not the only victims. Family members who must stand by as their loved ones lose themselves to the disease also suffer. The feeling of helplessness often causes family caregivers stress, anxiety and depression.
This is why over $30 billion has been invested in more than 2,300 clinical trials for medicines to treat the disease. All failed to produce an effective treatment.
Leucadia Therapeutics is taking a different approach to the problem with a non-invasive test to predict who will get Alzheimer’s disease long before even the earliest symptoms appear. We can also fix it with an implantable device that studies suggest will prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing, and may even reverse it in people who already have it.
ALZHEIMER’S IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS
Recent studies have shown the following facts and figures.
The number of Americans age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s dementia by 2060.
About one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.
The number of people worldwide expected to be living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia by 2050.
The annual global cost of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia by 2030.
The cost of caring for Americans with Alzheimer’s and other dementias by 2050, up from $321 billion in 2022.
The total annual cost of caring for Americans living with Alzheimer's and other dementias.
Since 1990, Alzheimer’s has risen from the 12th most burdensome disease in the U.S. to the 6th. No other disease or condition increased as much.
Up to 40 percent of family caregivers of people with dementia suffer from depression, compared with 5 to 17 percent of similar populations.
Every 3 seconds someone worldwide develops Alzheimer’s or another dementia.