Please don't interfere with this research

The New York Times has a long story about all the research that is being done by pharmaceutical companies to find a better treatment for Alzheimer's. Several drug companies claim to be ready to reveal promising research in the coming months or years. We've heard this before and I won't hold my breath, even as my mother has slipped away more and more from us. However, it is impressive the forces and money that these companies are devoting to this research. Wyeth has already spent $450 million dollars on its research and may or may not have some promising findings.

Wyeth has decided to go full bore against Alzheimer’s, a disease that has defied effective treatment since it was first identified a century ago. The company has dedicated more than 350 scientists exclusively to Alzheimer’s research, and they are working on 23 separate projects for medicines to possibly treat the disease.

Bless them. With scary statistics of how many of us can expect to either be stricken with the disease or see a loved one suffer from it, we all can pray that Wyeth and the other drug companies will find a successful treatment as soon as possible.

Estimates of its frequency vary, but it strikes one out of every 5 people between ages 75 and 84 and 42 percent of those over age 85, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The organization estimates the current direct and indirect costs of the disease at nearly $150 billion a year, a figure that includes medical and nursing home costs as well as lost job productivity for family members who serve as caregivers.

But when a drug company does find the treatment that is successful against this terrible disease, they will have to recoup some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that they have spent on researching that treatment and all the other ones that failed along the way. And when it becomes clear how expensive it might be for the new drug, it is a sure bet that there will be politicians who will be demagoguing the high cost of the drug or drugs. They will be demanding that the drug comanies lower their prices. The media will run heart-rending stories about poor elderly people who can't afford the treatment. And there will be bills introduced to mandate lower prices for the needed treatments.

Well, I'm sure I would like to have my cake and eat it too as much as the next person. But you can't have companies spend years and hundreds of millions of dollars on research and then deny them the profits from that research. While I am sure that these scientists and drug company presidents are good people who go to sleep each night hoping that they can find a cure or treatment for Alzheimer's, they don't do it all out of charity. And so, I hope that politicians will stop treating drug companies as if they are some sort of evil robber barons and remember that we will all benefit if they can reap the rewards for all the investments they make to help fight a terrible disease.