3 Alzheimer's Therapy Stocks to Invest in
Alzheimer's therapies are big news lately. The disease is the leading cause of dementia and memory loss. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 6.5 million Americans 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and by 2050, the number of people 65 and older with AD is projected to reach 12.7 million. It is the seventh-leading cause of death.
There is no cure for the disease, and for nearly 20 years no new Alzheimer's therapy had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- until last year. That's when aducanumab, developed by Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Japanese biopharmaceutical company Eisai, received FDA approval but not without a lot of controversy.
Aducanumab targets beta-amyloid, a protein that causes abnormal clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and are believed to damage cells and lead to dementia. Despite the FDA's approval, the therapy isn't widely prescribed, though, because of mixed studies regarding its effectiveness and safety. Insurance coverage of the therapy has been limited thanks largely to a decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to restrict coverage for the therapy.
Source Fool.com
