Undermines Progress Being Made Against Alzheimer's - Nation's Costliest Disease
Washington, DC (February 13, 2018) - President Trump's call to freeze funding in biomedical research in his Fiscal Year 2019 budget request undermines important progress being made to cure Alzheimer's - a disease that affects more than 5.5 million Americans and costs the nation $259 billion in 2017. UsAgainstAlzheimer's is urging the Administration and Congress to reject President Trump's refusal to increase the funding essential to the nation's ability to fight Alzheimer's. In light of the increasing prevalence of the disease and the costs of this disease to the nation, it is foolhardy to artificially cap investment in preventing this disease and in reducing the rapidly increasing entitlement costs associated with Alzheimer's. We must sustain progress in the fight against Alzheimer's by investing in the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"We are wholeheartedly opposed to freezing funding for the NIH and medical research programs at fiscal year 2017 levels," said UsAgainstAlzheimer's co-founder and Chairman George Vradenburg. "Too many American families are desperately awaiting breakthrough therapies for Alzheimer's. We must sustain the trajectory of increased government funding if we are going to make real progress. Beyond addressing the human toll, the most direct path to health care cost savings is investing in cures that will rein in the more than $250 billion in government and family spending on Alzheimer's. Bipartisan leadership in Congress has strongly supported this path, and we urge Congress to reject the Administration's lackluster support of medical research. In an era of extreme partisanship, the fight to stop Alzheimer's is one issue that continues to inspire collaboration and even comradery among members of both parties."
Last year, the administration proposed cuts to NIH funding for fiscal year 2018 but Congressional champions from both parties, including Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), rejected that proposal and drafted legislation that would increase funding for Alzheimer's research to $414 million (Senate) and $400 million (House) over fiscal year 2017.
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