WASHINGTON, D.C., July 21, 2020 - The National Institutes of Health (NIH) needs an additional $289 million in Alzheimer's and dementia research funding in fiscal year 2022 to advance toward the 2025 research goal for treatment or prevention. The request was released in the NIH's annual professional judgement budget for Alzheimer's and dementia research, released during a meeting of the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care and Services.
"Thanks to bipartisan Congressional support, in recent years Alzheimer's and dementia research has received the necessary and steady investment that the NIH and leading researchers say is needed to address the crisis," said Robert Egge, Alzheimer's Association Chief Public Policy Officer and Alzheimer's Impact Movement (AIM) Executive Director. "The release of the professional judgment budget request by the NIH highlights the momentum in the field and demonstrates that a continued commitment will accelerate progress and lead to effective treatments and a cure."
This is the sixth professional judgement budget for Alzheimer's released by the NIH. In 2014, the Alzheimer's Association and AIM championed and secured support for the passage of the Alzheimer's Accountability Act, which ensures Congress hears directly from NIH scientists on the resources needed to address the Alzheimer's crisis. Alzheimer's is only the third disease to have a professional judgement budget.
Alzheimer's research funding has increased more than six-fold since Congress passed the National Alzheimer's Project Act in 2011. As a result of this historic investment, researchers are advancing the understanding of the disease, exploring biomarkers, discovering potential ways to reduce risk, and are working to move promising therapeutic candidates and diagnostic tools forward into clinical testing.
"We have made much progress toward better understanding these complex diseases, and we continue to make significant advances in discovering approaches that may prevent, diagnose, and treat them," wrote NIH director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. in the professional judgement budget. "With continued investments in Alzheimer's and related dementias, NIH is poised to build upon these achievements," he continued.
More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's and an estimated 16 million are providing unpaid care. Alzheimer's is estimated to cost the nation $305 billion in 2020 including $206 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
