The Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act of 2009 (S. 1492 & H.R. 3286) is a tremendous step in the fight against Alzheimer’s. The bipartisan legislation, offered in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) and by Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) in the House, offers great promise for someday having a world without Alzheimer’s disease.

For the last six years, federal funding for Alzheimer research has declined in real terms. In fact, for every dollar the government spends on the costs of Alzheimer care, it invests less than a penny in research to find a cure. This is all while the loss of lives and costs to Medicare and Medicaid continue to soar.

By calling for a significant increase of funding for Alzheimer’s at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $2 billion, this legislation authorizes the necessary resources to restore momentum in the pursuit of better diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Advances and progress in the various areas of Alzheimer research have the potential to save millions of lives and save billions of dollars to the nation’s public health programs. The Alzheimer’s Association enthusiastically supports this legislation and sees it as a necessary vehicle to change the paradigm as we know it today.

Equally important as investing in the research that can yield breakthroughs in the near future, is helping the nearly 10 million Alzheimer caregivers today who wrestle with the financial and emotional challenges of caring for a loved one with this disease. The Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act seeks to provide them with vital resources and tools to assist them in this demanding role. It also calls for a National Summit on Alzheimer's to look at promising research avenues and programs that are important in fighting this disease and supporting those who are struggling with it.