Increasing Alzheimer’s Patients Spell Drug Profits

Some disturbing figures rolled out yesterday concerning growth rates of Alzheimer’s patients. The number of people affected grew 10% in the past four years and is expected to grow to over 115 million by 2050. That’s a doubling of cases every 20 years.

The number is expected to grow because of the diets and activity levels amongst older individuals in developed countries. Apparently we’re getting too much junk food and not enough exercise.

Numbers like that are scary to contemplate for many, especially families with relatives at risk, but they’re statistics that pharmaceutical companies love hearing.

Which is why we thought we’d pull up a few of the leading Alheimer’s drugs and the publicly listed companies that produce them: drugs like Aricept from Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Exelon from Novartis AG ADR (NYSE: NVS), and Namenda from Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX).

With ever increasing Alzheimer’s customers to buy these products, these companies should have their hands full, and that bodes well for investors.

And in another strange coincidence, researchers at the University of Alabama have just discovered a link between individuals who have difficulty with their finances and dementia. We can see no better reason to continue reading Investment U and keeping educated about you finances.

Symbols mentioned in this article: PFE, NVS and FRX.

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