India's Alzheimer's burden is growing, but treatment still out of reach

Doctors say there is no national-level policy programme for Alzheimer's and the bulk of the family expenditure on health is on people in their productive ages

India is gradually ageing and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease affecting more of its elderly population is on the rise. So far, the treatment offered is focused on trying to improve the patient’s quality of life, but nothing really slows down or arrests the disease. The steep prices of new therapies discovered overseas also don’t make these easily accessible for people in Indian.

A new experimental drug has, however, brought hope for patients of Alzheimer’s, which is a progressive neurologic disorder that causes the brain to shrink and the brain cells to die. US giant Biogen and Japanese Eisai’s investigational drug,