The largest-ever increase to Alzheimer’s research funding was recently signed into law, following a determined effort by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease.
The funding was included in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2019, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Sept. 28.
Sen. Collins spearheaded the push to include the $425 million increase for Alzheimer’s research in an effort to combat the disease’s high human and financial costs.
“I have long championed increased investments for Alzheimer’s, which hold great promise for putting an end to this disease that has a devastating effect on millions of Americans and their families,” Sen. Collins said on Oct. 2. “I am encouraged by the sustained, bipartisan commitment for this research.”
More than 5 million people are living with Alzheimer’s disease across America, including 28,000 people in Maine, according to Sen. Collins’ office. Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the nation an estimated $277 billion each year. If the current trend remains steady, an estimated 14 million seniors will be living with Alzheimer’s in 2050 with associated healthcare costs surpassing $1.1 trillion per year, according to the senator’s staff.
In 2011, Sen. Collins, along with then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), authored the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), which established an Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services to assess current federal efforts as well as improvement recommendations. Through initial evaluations, the Advisory Council determined that an annual $2 billion in research funding is required to achieve NAPA’s goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s by 2025.
The most recent increase brings the country’s total investment in Alzheimer’s research to $2.34 billion for fiscal year 2019.
“We have made tremendous progress in recent years to boost funding for biomedical research, and this legislation builds on that momentum by providing the largest-ever increase for Alzheimer’s, exceeding our $2 billion goal,” Sen. Collins said.