Investment into brain-aging research offers the most efficient and cost-effective approached to fight age-related diseases. Recent work by MIT Professor of Finance, Andrew Lo, supports a strong and directed investment approach to stave off economic pitfalls of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. For example, a new therapy resulting from basic research that could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by just five years would save the US Medicare and Medicaid system $200 billion over the next decade and $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years. The future cost savings of effective Alzheimer’s disease therapy to Medicare and Medicaid far exceed investment.
Historically, funding basic research results in a wealth of innovation advantages that allows for prevention and treatment of intractable epidemics. Investments into the Aging Brain Initiative is investing into detecting Alzheimer’s decades in advance, into creating technologies that offer advanced home-care that supports family and caregivers, and in establishing health monitoring technologies that improve quality of life for advanced age people.