Washington, DC – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today expressed its professional judgment that $323 million in additional funding for Alzheimer’s research in Fiscal 2017 over Fiscal 2016 levels would be required to stay on path to the national goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer's by 2025. The announcement, required by Congress as part of the 2015 Budget, was made by NIH Director Francis Collins and NIA Director Richard Hodes at a meeting of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services, which was created by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA).
“This is a further positive step toward the minimum $2 billion annual investment levels scientists believe is necessary to achieve the national goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2025,” said George Vradenburg, chairman and co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, and a member of the Advisory Council.
“If Congress embraces the current House and Senate Appropriations Committee recommendations of $300 to $350 million in additional funding in 2016 and acts on today's NIH recommendation with respect to 2017, fiscal 2017 investment in Alzheimer's research would approach $1.3 billion. That’s not as much as scientists say we need to stop this cancer-sized disease and is far short of the $6 billion annual investment in cancer, but it represents a major step forward.”
"We call on the advocates of UsAgainstAlzheimer's and those in this movement with us to applaud this increase while standing with us to keep the pressure on Congress,” Vradenburg said.
UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and other Alzheimer’s stakeholders strongly supported the House and Senate push for increased funding through multiple advocacy actions and efforts to secure cosigners of the FY 2016 Alzheimer’s research appropriations letters which were signed by more than 30 Senators.
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UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is an innovative, relentless advocacy organization demanding a transformative solution to Alzheimer's by 2020. Driven by the suffering of millions of families, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s presses for greater urgency from government, industry and the scientific community in the quest for an Alzheimer's cure – accomplishing this through effective leadership, collaboration, advocacy, and strategic investments. We are committed to ending Alzheimer’s by: accelerating the means of prevention and treatments; increasing the resources committed to stopping Alzheimer’s; and delivering dramatic improvements in the systems to support those living with Alzheimer's and their care partners, while continuing our fight for a cure.