Introduction
The number of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and diabetes in the United States, and indeed globally, has increased significantly in the last few years. In light of this, multiple research studies have been conducted to find ways of fighting these diseases. The paper evaluates three newspaper stories on research conducted to identify modern approaches to treating diabetes and Alzheimer’s diseases.
The first newspaper article, “U.S. Venture Gathers Drugmakers to Beat Alzheimer’s, Lupus (3),” is written by Alex Wayne on behalf of Bloomberg News. The second newspaper article, “Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Research May Yield Cures” is authored by Courtney Wills on behalf of the WebProNews. Lastly, the third article, “Drug Companies Join NIH in Study of Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus,” is written by Monica Langley and Jonathan D. Rockoff of the Wall Street Journal.
The paper attempts to critique the three identified newspaper stories with the objective of providing a comparison and evaluation of all three articles. Also, the paper will attempt to determine the impact of the news content on global health.
Evaluation of the articles
Article 1
In his article, Wayne (2014) argues on the proposed partnership between the U.S government and leading drug manufacturers in the U.S in the hope of finding novel ways to Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. The article explores some of the major diseases that affect the majority of Americans (Wayne, 2014). These diseases cost U.S taxpayers billions of dollars in the form of patient treatment and a reduction in production due to ill health.
The article suggests that the venture will specifically target Alzheimer’s research because out of the over 100 research studies carried out over the past 16 years, none of them has been a real success. This view is valid because, so far, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. The article has established that over 5 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer, and the figure is projected to increase three-fold in the next two decades (Wayne, 2014). The NHS will spend $1.1 billion on funding diabetes, $260 million on arthritis research, and $562 million will go towards research on Alzheimer (Wayne, 2014).
The major strength of the article is that it clearly elaborates why the collaboration between drugmakers and other stakeholders is necessary. For example, such a collaboration would not only provide a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, but it would also provide a breakthrough to the cure of other diseases such as lupus 3 (diabetes) and arthritis. The author of this article admits that collaboration would be most welcome because it would provide a breakthrough in unraveling the causes and cure of diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s (Wayne, 2014). The article is formulated well, and the content is credible and informative to the target audience.
Besides, the paper provides an insight into how the stakeholders could partner to achieve a common goal by setting their differences aside. However, the article fails to provide an estimate of the time taken to come up with a cure. It does not also cover the anticipated challenges. In addition, it does not provide the estimated cost for the complete project and the side effects that the patients involved in the trial could experience.
Article 2
According to Langley and Rockoff (2014), the aim of the pact between ten pharmaceuticals is to “to decipher the biology behind Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus, and to thereby identify targets for new drugs” (p.1). This means that the main interest of such collaboration is to study lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
By bringing together leading scientists from ten leading pharmaceutical companies, this will help to consolidate the individual research studies done by the individual drug companies and possibly come up with better research strategies. This collaboration is based on the fact that the four diseases have been classified as the biggest public-health threats (Langley & Rockoff 2014). Moreover, most of the companies have lost billions of dollars trying to come up with a cure for these diseases. However, some of the executives have serious misgivings about such collaboration and are thus far from convinced.
One of the strong points of this article is that the authors have acknowledged that the cost of the project, estimated at $ 230 million, is a very conservative figure in comparison to what some individual drug manufacturers spend annually on research and development. The article also acknowledges that there is a dire need to collaborate because past studies have proved ineffective. Additionally, the article notes that a single organization cannot come up with a cure for diseases.
The other strength of the article is that the authors have provided statistical figures and snapshots of the cost required, sales of available drugs, and projections of the sakes of currently available drugs. It also points out that the collaboration will be effective because of current efforts to decipher the disease are unproven. The article is formulated and written in a logical and understandable manner. It also provides the anticipated duration of the project and challenges that are mostly like to be faced. However, the article fails to give the anticipated side effects of drugs on the patients who will take part in the trials.
Article 3
In his article, Willis (2004) highlights the proposed collaboration between the U.S government, the NIH, and leading drug manufacturers in the country for the sole purpose of undertaking extensive research on Alzheimer’s.
The collaboration is based on the fact that by 2015, the current number of Alzheimer’s disease is more likely to triple. The disease, which currently affects over five million Americans, is a burden to both society and the government. Therefore, the decision to collaborate is geared towards eradicating these crippling diseases. Willis (2014) notes that past researches to determine the cure for Alzheimer have been fruitless. By finding a cure for Alzheimer, scientists believe that a cure for type 1 diabetes will also be found.
The article is well written with an elaborate time frame that will be followed to unravel the biology behind Alzheimer’s disease. It also provides useful information on financial estimates, cost to be incurred, and the name of the eight companies involved. It also states that the collaboration of these companies other than working towards a common goal but also shares past scientific findings. The article, however, fails to provide challenges expected in the course of the collaboration.
Comparison
The three newspaper articles are related as they address the issue of collaborating to devise ways to cure diabetes and Alzheimer. In addition, the articles explore the collaboration between the U.S government, drug makers, and the National Institute of Health in an effort to find a cure for these diseases. Therefore, the newspapers have addressed the need to collaborate on the same agenda, which is to design new drugs to cure the two diseases. The articles also share the fact that past researches in ways to cure Alzheimer has proven fruitless and hence the need for collaboration. All three articles concur that so far, advances in science and technology have failed to find a cure for both Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
However, if the test for diabetes and Alzheimer’s is successful, there is the hope of reducing the high mortality rates due to these diseases. All three articles are in agreement that the venture will be cost-effective since past research studies have proved futile. The authors of the three articles are also in agreement that this collaboration will go a long way in finding a cure for Alzheimer’s and diabetes (Wills 2014; Langley & Rockoff, 2014; Wayne, 2014).
Impact on global health and possible outcomes
Wayne (2014) proposes that the “data generated from the work will be made public for other scientists to use, a move the U.S. National Institutes of Health called groundbreaking” (1). This means that the data will be used to come up with a strategy to reduce the levels and impacts of diabetes and Alzheimer in the world. It also means that we could see the number of patients suffering from these diseases reduce.
The collaboration is most likely to benefit Alzheimer’s research because for the past 16 years, over 100 research studies have been conducted to find its cure but no conclusive findings have emerged. For this reason, the content is useful as it provides hope to the current and future generations on the possibility of developing drugs to completely treat rather than alleviate pain. The study will also be useful to the society in general because it will reduce the burden Alzheimer has to the society. Therefore, social, financial, and psychological burden that is inflicted by Alzheimer’s patient in the society will be minimized if not eliminated fully.
Since diabetes and Alzheimer are looming global health problems, such collaboration may succeed in working out the biology behind these diseases and hence develop new drugs. Although the project is costly, pooling of resources will definitely accelerate the chance of discovering new drugs. According to Langley and Rockoff (2014), most of the past research findings are scattered and held by different pharmaceutical labs and interested parties. Therefore, collaboration will ensure that information is shared and will be used towards drug manufacturing. The possible outcomes of such collaboration include the probability of treating Alzheimer in the long run and reducing the money used annually to take care of patients suffering from Alzheimer. To the academic world, the content in the article is vital as it will not only revolutionalize the academic research work, but it will also improve the financial field. The collaboration would be a scientific breakthrough if it can find a cure to Alzheimer’s. such a breakthrough would also provide a very good chance for developing cure for arthritis, diabetes, and lupus (Wills, 2014).
Conclusion
The three newspaper articles share a similar observation that the collaboration between major pharmaceuticals will help in developing a cure for diabetes and Alzheimer. Overall, the articles are well written in a coherent and understandable language. In addition, the articles are informative and could be used as a platform for scientific breakthrough in the future. Although the articles have addressed the issue of cure for diabetes and Alzheimer differently, the authors have found a unique way of explaining the same message. Therefore, we believe that the content in the article will have a significant role in the academic and scientific field in the future.
Reference List
- Langley, M., & Rockoff, J. D. (2014). Drug companies join NIH in study of Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus. Web.
- Wayne, A. (2014). U.S. venture gathers drugmakers to beat Alzheimer’s, Lupus (3). Web.
- Wills, C. (2014). Diabetes, Alzheimer’s research may yield cures. Web.