A subcommittee in the U.S. House recently approved of a new appropriations bill that would increase the funding dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease research by approximately $350 million.
With this increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the total funding for Alzheimer’s disease research amounts to $1.26 billion. This rise in funding is crucial to the U.S. work that is designed to stop and treat Alzheimer’s by the year 2025.
“Even though the national cost of treating Alzheimer’s disease is currently $226 billion and rising rapidly, less than $1 billion has been invested annually in the research that will lead to more effective treatments and eventually a cure,” George Vradenburg, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s co-founder and chairman, said. “We commend this bipartisan action that recognizes the importance of increasing investment in Alzheimer’s research, not only as an act of compassion toward the millions who have and will have this cruel disease, but also as a smart, sensible and necessary investment in the innovations needed to reduce the economic cost to American families and society.”
The success of this goal is vital to national health: as of today, more than 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s.
“We look forward to the House and Senate finalizing and reconciling their respective appropriations bills and sending the measure to President Obama,” Vradenburg said. “There are promising avenues of drug discovery and development that can bring new hope to Alzheimer’s sufferers and their caregivers. This additional funding will accelerate the process and move us closer to answers.”
