by Health Editor
The aim will be to raise awareness of political action and increase public attention and debate towards Alzheimer’s, early diagnosis of the disease and patient management
For some time now, new data on drugs created to combat Alzheimer’s disease have followed one another. In order to support research on this pathology, a parliamentary intergroup for neuroscience and Alzheimer’s was recently set up. The role of the intergroup, born on the initiative of Democratic Party senator Beatrice Lorenzin and FI deputy Annamaria Patriarca, will be to raise awareness of political action and increase attention and public debate towards Alzheimer’s, early diagnosis disease and patient care.
Neurodegenerative diseases and in particular Alzheimer’s disease represent one of the greatest challenges in the health and medical field in a country like Italy, the second longest-lived in the world, and qualify as a real public health problem, especially exponential growth, with a strong impact on the national health, social and economic system. In Italy, around 1,200,000 cases of dementia are estimated today, with an increase of almost 150,000 diagnoses each year and with a growth rate destined to grow significantly due to the progressive aging of the population. From an economic point of view, in Italy the costs related to Alzheimer’s disease are estimated at € 15.6 billion, of which 80% are borne directly by the patients’ families.
The Parliamentary Intergroup for Neurosciences and Alzheimer’s was born from the recognition of the presence of unmet needs of patients and family members who are faced with a neurodegenerative disease – declared Annarita Patriarca during the conference “Alzheimer’s and neurosciences: a priority for the Paese”, held on 13 July at Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome – it is essential that there is a strong awareness on the part of the institutions regarding the need to consider these pathologies as a primary problem of public health, addressing the most critical issues in a structural way. We will therefore focus on dialogue with national and regional institutions, the academic and scientific world, in order to promote legislative and regulatory solutions to ensure early and accurate diagnosis, effective and integrated care of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and other pathologies neurodegenerative and neuroimmunological, and to support research in the field of Neuroscience in Italy.
On the research front, effective collaboration between the public and private sectors is needed, through adequate funding from the state to encourage innovation in the health sector and the strengthening of investments in neuroscience. We must work so that our National Health Service is ready to guarantee access to the best therapeutic innovations in the near future, through prompt diagnosis, effective patient management and a new system of early access to treatment – stressed Stefano Benigni, Forza Italia group leader in Commission XII — In this regard, a change of perspective on the pathology is necessary that includes a health, planning and investment dimension, also taking advantage of the opportunities that the Next Generation EU program makes available to us. For example, by linking the new structures envisaged by the Pnrr to the current networks for the management of people with dementia and by strengthening the proximity of care by guaranteeing strong coordination between specialists and family doctors, who are often the first to have to recognize the alarm” of the onset of dementia and refer patients to the specialist of reference”. The event, which was sponsored by the Association of Parliamentary and Legislative Initiative for Health and Prevention, was organized with the unconditional support of Eli Lilly, Biogen and Roche, and with the participation of Amylyx and Eisai.
July 18, 2023 (change July 18, 2023 | 1:50 pm)
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