Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Sounds Alarm on the Urgency of a Sustained Global Response to Alzheimer’s, Calling on G7 Leaders to Move Swiftly
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ANCONA, ITALY – October 8, 2024 – The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC), with the European Brain Council, the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease, the Associazione Italiana Malattia di Alzheimer and Fondazione Prada, today issued an urgent call-to-action for G7 leaders to address the escalating global challenge of Alzheimer’s and dementia by taking bold measures to ensure broad and equitable access to life-extending therapies and other current innovations. DAC, a pioneering worldwide initiative seeking to cure Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain health across the entire lifespan, and its partnering organizations, sounded the alarm at a side event at the G7 Health Ministers’ meeting in Ancona, Italy, “Advancing Global Collaboration for Dementia, Brain Health and Healthy Aging: Continuing the G7 Commitment.”
Alzheimer’s currently affects over 55 million people worldwide. By 2050, that number will nearly triple. And it’s an estimate that doesn’t even take into account family members and the great many people across the globe who will need to leave the workforce in order to provide unpaid care for loved ones. What’s more, while we know that dementia costs the global economy more than $1.3 trillion each year—or more than $15 trillion in a single decade – its toll in human suffering is inestimable. Already, innumerable people have slowly died from this devastating disease, and the reverberating emotional impact left in its wake has undermined the lives of countless others.
Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease that progresses in stages, increasing in severity over time. It begins with physical changes in the brain, such as the build-up of toxic amyloid plaques, which can occur up to 20 years before symptoms become noticeable. It currently takes up to two years for people to receive a diagnosis. These delays mean that those affected have less time to receive the care and support they need to adjust and plan for their future. For change to happen, health systems and society must rapidly adapt to a newer model of care that recognizes the value of early diagnosis.
The call for a disease modifying therapy by 2025 that began at the 2013 G8 Summit set the stage for groundbreaking research in Alzheimer’s. Today, there are disease-modifying treatments available and approved in the US, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Emirates, Israel and China for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Yet, these treatments are not widely accessible, even in these countries, leaving critical gaps despite regulatory approval. Moreover, many patients and people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s still lack access to the latest tools for detection of cognitive impairment and diagnosis. Combined, these factors greatly exacerbate health disparities around the world.
“OECD countries must lead by example by placing dementia higher on the policy agenda. We must work together to address diagnosis challenges, improve quality of care and support efforts in monitoring outcomes for people with dementia, while continuing to promote research and development for innovative treatments which make a difference in the lives of people with dementia,” said Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Deputy Secretary-General Yoshiki Takeuchi.
DAC and all partners in the side event urged G7 governments to take the following actions to ensure that the benefits of scientific progress reach all patients: Please see below for the complete call-to-action. *
1. Expand Global and Cross-Sector Collaboration
2. Invest in Healthcare System Preparedness
3. Build the Capabilities for Early Detection and Accurate Diagnosis
4. Accelerate the Development and Delivery of Alzheimer’s Interventions
5. Foster Research, Access, and Equity Worldwide
“Science and industry are beginning to deliver groundbreaking, disease-modifying therapies and more are coming,” said George Vradenburg, founding chairman of DAC. “Now we must ensure that these innovations reach families who need them. The world is depending on the G7 nations to drive increasing Alzheimer’s research investments and create policy frameworks and healthcare models to assure that early detection, diagnosis and effective treatments are universally and equitably available in every country – and to rich and poor alike.”
The impending shadow that Alzheimer’s has cast is of considerable concern to the nation hosting this year’s G7 meeting. Home to the second oldest population in the world, more than a third of Italy’s people will be 65 or older by 2050. Already, 44% of Italians in that age group say memory or other cognitive loss is a major problem for them. Estimates say there are more than 1 million people affected by dementia of which 700,000 affected by Alzheimer’s.
“Our part in the global response to Alzheimer’s will be significant,” said Alessandro Padovani, president, Italian Society of Neurology. “Given our demographics as a super-aging society, the world will be watching closely as we navigate the challenges of dementia. Ensuring innovations that improve and extend the lives of people with Alzheimer’s are available to all will be paramount.”
Hilary Evans-Newton, Chief Executive of UK’s leading dementia research charity, Alzheimer's Research UK, added: “I strongly believe that, through research, we will make progress against diseases like Alzheimer’s. But when people aren’t able to benefit from the fruits of that research, it’s heartbreaking. Policymakers across the G7 and beyond must act now to find solutions so that people living with dementia don’t continue to miss out on innovative treatments.”
About the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative
The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) is a pioneering worldwide initiative to cure Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain health, seeking to mirror the success of global efforts against infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Covid, and Malaria. DAC is extending global research beyond its current focus on traditional Western European ethnic populations into the highly diversified populations of the Global South, where the vast majority of those with Alzheimer’s live. By introducing lower-cost screening and diagnostic tools as well as new treatment and prevention modalities in primary care and community health settings, DAC is driving implementation of health system solutions that are appropriate for worldwide application. DAC also promotes the vital importance of brain health throughout the lifespan by addressing cardiometabolic and lifestyle factors, especially in early and mid-life. Absent effective action at scale around the world, by 2050, more than 150 million families and half a billion people will be personally impacted by dementia, creating a social, financial, economic, and global security disaster of historic proportions. DAC was launched in Davos in 2021 by the World Economic Forum and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease.
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*Leading organizations in the Alzheimer’s and aging fields call on G7 nations to take five high-level actions that will transform the global response to Alzheimer’s disease, healthy aging and brain health:
1. Expand Global and Cross-Sector Collaboration: Global and cross-sector partnerships are crucial to driving innovations in the field. Cooperation between governments, the private sector, scientific communities, philanthropic foundations, international organizations, and others must be scaled to ensure that breakthroughs reach those even in resource-constrained environments. The G20 Joint Finance-Health Task Force on pandemic prevention and preparedness model should be considered for tackling Alzheimer’s disease and driving healthy aging commitments across the globe.
2. Invest in Healthcare System Preparedness: Governments must strengthen healthcare systems with the resources, capabilities, and pathways to harness the latest tools, from cognitive screening and early detection, through accurate diagnosis, to precise, effective prevention, healthy aging strategies, treatment, and care. Investments will not only benefit people and families today; they will prepare healthcare systems to speed access to new solutions as they emerge in the years to come. There is an opportunity in 2025, when the Heads of States, international organizations and others will come together to set a vision to prevent and control NCDs towards 2030 and 2050 through a political declaration to be decided in the UN General Assembly. Alzheimer’s and brain health across the lifespan must be a central focus of this commitment.
3. Build the Capabilities for Early Detection and Accurate Diagnosis: There is growing consensus that early action represents the most promising path to address Alzheimer’s disease, potentially even before symptoms emerge. Enabling early action at scale will require significant efforts to streamline detection and diagnosis, using blood-based biomarkers and other technologies, beginning at the primary care level and reaching throughout the clinical pathway.
4. Accelerate the Development and Delivery of Alzheimer’s Interventions: New disease-modifying therapies bring great promise, but they must be paired with the right policies and capabilities for widespread access early in the disease. Most countries today do not have access to these therapies. And where these therapies are approved, payers often create impossible barriers to reduce access. Moreover, governments, regulators, payers, and industry must also begin to consider the prospect of therapies for prevention in preclinical populations, which offers enormous potential but also requires proactive planning for streamlined approval and delivery.
5. Foster Research, Access, and Equity Worldwide: Governments, researchers, the private sector, and other stakeholders must ensure that Alzheimer’s breakthroughs are aimed at people in every country and community. This starts with research in diverse, global populations, working towards scalable solutions and strategies that are effective and accessible for countries at all resource levels.