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Increase funding for Alzheimer research at NIH by $60 million to maintain the momentum and to hasten discovery of effective preventions and treatments.
Alzheimer’s disease research is a relatively new
scientific enterprise, much younger than other fields like
heart disease and cancer that have comparable impact on
an aging population. Dr. Alois Alzheimer identified the
disease a century ago, but the United States did not begin
a serious investment in Alzheimer research until the mid-1980s,
when the National Institute on Aging (NIA) established the
Office of Alzheimer’s Research under director T. Franklin
Williams, who stated, “We made Alzheimer’s research
our highest priority.”
It was not until 1991 that funding passed the $150 million
mark. Since then, Congress has slowly and steadily increased
its commitment to Alzheimer research. That investment is
paying off.
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are now
among the most exciting fields of scientific inquiry. The
number of investigators actively pursuing answers has grown
from a handful of researchers three decades ago to the more
than 5,000 who attended the 9th Annual International Conference
on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders in 2004.
As a result of their work, we now understand the basic mechanisms
of the disease, and those findings are being translated
to clinical practice.
Diagnosis can now be done with a high degree of certainty.
Five approved drugs for treating symptoms are now on the
market, and at least 26 additional compounds are being tested
in publicly and industry supported clinical trials. In addition,
evidence points to lifestyle changes that may be effective
in reducing Alzheimer risk.
From a scientist’s point of view, progress on Alzheimer’s
has exceeded all expectations. For the 4.5 million people
in the United States living with the disease – and
the families caring for them – the answers are not coming fast enough. They desperately
need effective treatments now.
Neither are the answers coming fast enough for 11 to 16
million baby boomers who face Alzheimer’s in their
future. The disease process may very well have already begun,
and they need a way to stop it before it is too late. The
answers are not coming fast enough for state and federal
officials whose Medicare and Medicaid budgets will spin
out of control if Alzheimer’s disease continues to
grow unchecked.
An army of Alzheimer researchers is poised to find effective
ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease. This
is not the time to force them to retreat, but that is exactly
what will happen unless Congress maintains funding at levels
sufficient to seize the critical scientific opportunities
now at hand.
Between 1998 and 2003, Congress doubled total funding for
the National Institutes of Health, which brought an increase
of $302 million to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
Funding for Alzheimer research peaked at $658 million in
2003 (a mere 2.4 percent of the total NIH budget that year).
Since then, it has started to slip, down to $652 million
in 2006. The President’s budget proposal for 2007
would take it lower, to $645 million. When these cuts are
combined with the rising costs of medical research and applied
to the rapidly expanding opportunities in Alzheimer science,
they will continue to take their toll.
Next: Additional Investment Needed
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