HHS’ draft plan must embrace a more aggressive path to stop Alzheimer’s by 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2011

CONTACT: KYLE MOLER
202-478-6173, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of Health and Human Services released its first full draft of a national plan to address Alzheimer’s, which includes a goal to stop the disease by 2025. This marks the first time the federal government has adopted a timeframe to stop Alzheimer’s, something for which USAgainstAlzheimer’s, a national advocacy network and campaign organization, has strongly advocated.

George Vradenburg, Chairman of USAgainstAlzheimer’s, released the following statement in response to the issuing of the draft plan. Vradenburg is a member of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services, which has been meeting to offer input during the planning and development process, and will provide the Administration and Congress with comments on the draft plan:

“The commitment to a 2025 deadline represents a major step forward in the fight against Alzheimer’s. I am especially pleased that the plan recognizes the need for increasing enrollment in clinical trials, compressing the drug development process, accelerating targeted research and better coordinating activities with other nations. However, I am concerned this first draft fails to present a strategy aggressive enough to achieve the goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s within 13 years. For example, it lacks specificity in terms of timelines and deadlines, provides no path to providing significantly greater resources, contains no provisions focused on accelerating advanced research and does not hold a single high-level office or individual accountable for the overall plan. I am hopeful these issues will be addressed in the ensuing months so that the next version will be even more aggressive.

The final plan must lay out a clear path bolstered by the resources necessary to match the scale of the fiscal and health challenge of Alzheimer's. At a time when it takes 15 years and a billion dollars to get a single drug from the laboratory to patients, we won't meet our 2025 goal unless Congress prioritizes reforms such as those laid out in the SPRINT Act, introduced last month, which would reduce government bureaucracy and spur innovation in research and drug development.

With the number of Alzheimer’s patients expected to triple in the coming decades, we must embrace a plan that eschews a ‘business-as-usual’ approach and tackles Alzheimer’s with the urgency and aggressiveness it requires. If not, we stand to lose millions more lives – and trillions of dollars – to this disease.”

The draft plan is now open for public comment, and the Advisory Council will provide input on the plan in the coming weeks. The final plan is expected to be issued in early May.

Over the past year, USAgainstAlzheimer’s and its advocates have engaged with lawmakers on the issue of Alzheimer’s, and have spoken out in support of the development of an aggressive national plan to stop the disease by 2020.

For more information about USAgainstAlzheimer’s work, or to set up an interview with a spokesperson, please contact Kyle Moler at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 202-478-6173.

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USAgainstAlzheimer’s is a national advocacy campaign and advocacy network committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020. An independent non-profit organization working in partnership with the Alzheimer’s community, USAgainstAlzheimer’s works to advance policies and elect candidates dedicated to stopping the disease by supporting research for a cure. For more information about USAgainstAlzheimer’s, visit http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/.