Hassan Warns of Tsunami

Fred Hassan has a message for Washington lawmakers: Stop focusing solely on short-term health care fixes and look at long-term threats like Alzheimer's.

The CEO of Schering-Plough Corp. thinks more government attention should be paid to Alzheimer's, which he says is a long-term health care "tsunami" forming as baby boomers continue to age. Already, the disease accounts for $110 billion a year in health care spending, he says. Of all the major diseases, Alzheimer's is the one that is least understood. He believes more can be done to prevent the disease if we could determine some of the genetic factors that contribute to it.

"I'm very frustrated because we haven't made a lot of progress in the last 50 years," Hassan says.

Hassan says government scientists and private researchers need to continue collaborations. He also thinks government officials should cut red tape to help bring experimental treatments to market quicker. And there should be better screening, Hassan says. Medicare should reimburse doctors for testing patients' mental functioning.

Hassan struck a deal to sell his company to Merck & Co. later this year. While he won't be staying on at Merck, he says he's not certain yet what he'll be doing. In some way, he'll be involved in continuing to spread the word about Alzheimer's, he says.