The federal spending package signed by President Joe Biden on Mar. 23 includes $100 million for Alzheimer’s disease research at the National Institutes of Health and about $40 million to fund Alzheimer’s awareness programs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Image courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Association via Facebook).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Buried in the $1.2 trillion appropriations package signed Mar. 23 by President Joe Biden is a windfall for U.S. efforts in the realm of Alzheimer’s research.
As part of that package’s funding for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the bill includes a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
That funding will allow scientists to drive innovation and accelerate improvements in care, treatment and prevention of that disease, according to Robert Egge, chief policy officer of the national Alzheimer’s Association.
“We are thrilled to witness Congress’s steadfast … commitment to Alzheimer’s research, despite ongoing budget constraints,” echoed George Vradenburg, the chair and co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.
But that’s just a small part of the bonanza in store for that federal department. In total, the HHS will receive $117 billion, of which the NIH will claim almost $49 billion.
Those figures include, Vradenburg explains, $4.5 billion for the National Institute on Aging and nearly $40 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Much of that CDC funding is earmarked to ensure that high-risk populations – particularly African-Americans and Latinos – have access to the latest information on Alzheimer’s disease, including strategies for risk reduction.
Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms of the disease eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily living.
Advocates for Alzheimer’s research say that nearly 7 million Americans are now living with that disease and that number is expected to nearly double by 2050 as the U.S. population continues to age.
Moreover, Alzheimer’s disease also kills, with experts reporting that 30 percent of seniors died from that disease or other dementia between 2000 and 2021. Those rates of death exceed those from breast cancer, prostate cancer and heart disease.
Even those grim statistics may be underestimated, Vrandenburg warns, judging from a 2023 poll of American voters conducted by the national Alliance for Aging.
“As the 2023 Alliance for Aging Poll makes clear,” he says, “an astounding 50 percent of American voters reported having a family member affected by Alzheimer’s, while another 25 percent selflessly serve as caregivers for those battling dementia.”
In addition to the aforementioned funding, the budget package signed by Biden included language that promotes health equity and addresses the specific needs of those within underserved communities who are affected with Alzheimer’s disease.
Groups supporting Alzheimer’s research credit a bipartisan group of Senators and House members for championing their cause in the recent budget negotiations.
Those include Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Susan Collins (R-ME), vice chair of the committee; Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies; Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), ranking member of the subcommittee; as well as Representatives Kay Granger (R-TX), chair of the House Appropriations Committee; Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the committee; and Robert Aderholt (R-AL), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education.
The federal spending package also encourages the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to collaborate with the National Institute of Aging and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes to develop new technologies aimed at discovering the earliest biological events that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.