GE Healthcare to Form Coalition Targeting Neurodegenerative Diseases

GE Healthcare to Form Coalition Targeting Neurodegenerative Diseases

Chalfont St Giles, UK — July 14, 2011 — Today GE Healthcare announced a new initiative called MIND — Making an Impact on Neurodegenerative Diseases — which aims to assist physicians in improving the detection, diagnosis and management of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease worldwide. To lead the initiative, GE Healthcare is forming the MIND Coalition, a multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder body that will bring its influence to bear on this global epidemic.

The Coalition will help to identify gaps in current frameworks for detection, diagnosis and care of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, with particular emphasis on proposing and advocating for positive solutions: what can be improved for patients and caregivers, and how to reduce the cost of disease management in places heavily impacted by aging populations — starting with France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the United States.

“GE Healthcare is in a unique position to help people and societies deal with the increasing incidence of neurodegenerative diseases around the world,” said Pascale Witz, President and CEO, Medical Diagnostics at GE Healthcare. “By establishing the MIND Coalition, we are committing to making a difference by advancing clinical knowledge, driving new medical innovations, and developing solutions for age-related neurodegenerative diseases.”

One of the first tasks of the Coalition will be to develop a report that describes the current state of neurodegenerative disease management, and a call to action for healthcare providers, regulators, governments and payors.

Neurodegenerative diseases are currently the sixth leading cause of death in high-income countries, with 35.6 million people suffering from dementia worldwide. By 2030 this will increase to 65.7 million and to 115.4 million by 2050. The rising incidence of such diseases not only affects the health and well-being of sufferers and their loved ones, but has a tremendous economic impact. For people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in the US, aggregate payments for healthcare, long-term care and hospice care are projected to rise from $183 billion in 2011 to $1.1 trillion in 2050.

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com/http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com

SOURCE