00:00 Alzheimer's patients and those who care for them now have hope when it comes to
00:04 a treatment in ways that they've never had before. Earlier this month the FDA
00:08 gave approval to a drug which has been shown to slow the progression of
00:12 Alzheimer's by as much as 27 percent. While there's a lot of excitement around
00:17 the researcher around the research and advancements, Scripps News' national
00:21 correspondent Chris Stewart spoke with families impacted by the disease who
00:25 have concerns. It's estimated more than 6.7 million Americans over the age of 65
00:32 have Alzheimer's. It's a disease that right now has no cure and it impacts
00:36 entire families. But there is hope with the development of new drugs that are
00:40 proving to slow the progression of Alzheimer's down. But at the same time
00:44 there are questions about whether those who are most at risk of developing
00:48 Alzheimer's will have fair access to this new medicine. I love this one, the
00:54 story behind it. We had a father-daughter night with my princess.
00:59 This is supposed to be for small kids. These pictures represent some of Sylvia
01:06 Waller's most cherished memories with her dad. So we get there and he said, "Why
01:12 are we the oldest here?" And I said, "Well it's a night with my princess." And I said,
01:18 "I'm still your princess." And he said, "Yeah." So that was the last night we danced.
01:24 Roughly two years after this night, Waller's father James passed away from
01:29 Alzheimer's in 2017. An only child, she took care of her dad until his death. It
01:35 was a tough one because the roles had changed. I was no longer his baby girl. I
01:41 was his caregiver. There was no approved Alzheimer's treatment for Waller's dad,
01:47 but she says the FDA approval of Lekembe offers hope. The treatment is a
01:52 twice-a-month IV infusion for patients who are in the early stages of the
01:56 disease that's been proven to slow Alzheimer's progression by as much as
02:00 27 percent. Waller does worry about access, especially to those in the black
02:06 community, which is twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's compared to those
02:10 who are white. Experts say health issues like higher rates of heart disease may
02:15 play a role, but research has yet to identify a cause. News is exciting that
02:21 we're now in a treatment phase and yay, but then there's a wah-wah-wah. A big
02:30 concern is the price. Medicare will cover most of Lekembe's cost of more than
02:35 $26,000 a year, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells me
02:40 patients will still likely have to pay 20 percent of the cost, which is more
02:44 than $5,000. Add that to the total out-of-pocket costs of caring for an
02:49 Alzheimer's patient. The Alzheimer's Association estimates it to be on
02:53 average more than $238,000 from diagnosis to death. The majority of the
02:59 people who have Alzheimer's are on Medicare and they're not the 10 percent
03:07 or the 1 percent, you know, who have money, have a great retirement fund. A lot of
03:14 tests are not available in Spanish, so a lot of my cognitive tests I have to pull
03:18 from Mexico or from Spain. I met with Fabian Consbro. He's a clinical
03:22 psychologist outside Denver who works closely with the Hispanic community,
03:26 which is one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's. He puts
03:31 patients through cognitive tests that can lead to a diagnosis. What's the
03:34 moment like when you have to tell a patient that they have Alzheimer's? That
03:39 is just as bad as giving someone a cancer diagnosis because it's a
03:43 terminal disease. This is the disease they're gonna die from. For as difficult
03:47 as a diagnosis may be, he says getting help also can be hard because of the
03:51 several steps and medical professionals dementia patients often need to meet
03:56 with to get treatment. He worries Lekembe will be out of reach for many of his
04:00 patients. Not only do they need to get the diagnosis, they need to get
04:04 the referral back to the specialist or back to their primary care doctor. The
04:07 provider has to be caught up on the medication and feel comfortable with
04:12 that medication. Lekembe is meant to treat those who are in the early stages
04:15 of Alzheimer's, which Jim Hurley, he with the Alzheimer's Association of
04:19 Colorado says makes access important. Every day 2000 people advance to
04:24 another stage of the disease. So having access to these medications right now is
04:31 critical for those people and their families in 2022 with Alzheimer's
04:36 awareness as her platform. Waller one Mrs Colorado. At the time I was like 60
04:42 and I've learned that no matter how old you are, you continue to grow. She says
04:49 while new drug developments are a major step forward, making sure people know
04:53 the signs and symptoms are an important part of the fight against a disease
04:57 that still has no cure.
04:59 Chris Stewart, Scripps News Denver.
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