Medical research and the critical role of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must be priorities of future efforts to improve the country’s healthcare system, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) wrote in an op-ed published Aug. 21 in the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper.
After recently touring NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Md., where Moran said he learned about the work being done there by the nation’s leading physicians and researchers on neurodegenerative diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease in particular, he wrote: “The importance of NIH funding is real.”
The medical breakthroughs yielded from NIH research ensure the health of future generations as the nation’s doctors, scientists and healthcare providers continue to find and create improved treatments and cures for costly diseases, Moran said.
“Federal NIH dollars support 3,000 universities, medical schools and research facilities across the country, which are developing cutting-edge treatments that will serve as a catalyst for more affordable care in the future,” wrote Moran, a cofounder of the Senate NIH Caucus.
That’s why it’s imperative for federal dollars to continue to flow to NIH, said Moran.
However, President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal would cut $7.2 billion, or 21 percent, of the NIH budget, the lowest budget for NIH since 2002. Congress will review Trump’s plan when it returns from its summer recess.
At the same time, lawmakers must address cumulative health care costs and put the country on a sustainable path by finding lower-cost treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, by identifying diseases earlier, and by developing new and improved treatments, said Moran.
NIH is helping in this regard as well, said Moran, who pointed to work being done by researchers at the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center who are contributing work on brain imaging, Alzheimer’s prevention, mitochondrial genetics and cellular metabolism, thanks to NIH status and research capabilities. They’re also forging partnerships to expedite clinical trials of potential treatments.
“According to a recent NIH report on Alzheimer’s, today there are more than five million Americans living with this disease and by 2050 that number could rise to as high as 16 million,” wrote Moran.
With Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases costing $259 billion in 2017 and projected to cost $1.1 trillion in total expenses by 2050, NIH medical research funding must remain a top priority, Moran said.