SENATOR COLLINS APPLAUDS EFFORT TO INCREASE INVESTMENT IN ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who is the Senate Co-Chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease, today expressed support for the Administration’s announcement that it intends to increase federal investment in Alzheimer’s research by 25-percent. Today, the Administration announced a plan to invest $130 million in new Alzheimer’s research funding.
“I applaud the Administration’s plan to invest in Alzheimer’s research. It is a modest, but necessary and welcome, first step toward better treatments, a means of prevention, and, hopefully one day, a cure,” said Senator Collins. “Alzheimer’s disease takes a tremendous personal and economic toll on both the individual and the family. In addition to the human suffering it causes, this disease poses a significant challenge to the fiscal health of our nation. In fact, it is placing a huge burden on both the Medicare and Medicaid programs eventually threatening to bankrupt them if nothing is done. We know that investments can lead to tremendous breakthroughs in research and treatment. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Senator Collins, along with former Senator Evan Bayh, authored the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which was signed into law by the President in January 2011. The preliminary framework for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Plan, which was authorized by their legislation, was recently released and identified key goals to better treat and prevent Alzheimer’s by the year 2024.
In addition, Senators Collins and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) recently introduced the Spending Reductions through Innovations in Therapies or SPRINT, Act. This bill would authorize $50 million for a public-private program within the Department of Health and Human Services to support advanced research into promising therapies that are most likely to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs for high-cost chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This legislation would continue investment through public-private partnerships – requiring that every $1 in federal funds is matched by $2 in private investment so that federal dollars are best spent on market-tested and market-ready drugs. The bill compresses the product development timelines and increases the volume of drugs in the development pipeline so that priority is given to the most promising pharmaceuticals. Additionally, it expedites the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review process so that drugs can be brought more quickly to market to the patients who need them.
“I applaud the Administration’s plan to invest in Alzheimer’s research. It is a modest, but necessary and welcome, first step toward better treatments, a means of prevention, and, hopefully one day, a cure,” said Senator Collins. “Alzheimer’s disease takes a tremendous personal and economic toll on both the individual and the family. In addition to the human suffering it causes, this disease poses a significant challenge to the fiscal health of our nation. In fact, it is placing a huge burden on both the Medicare and Medicaid programs eventually threatening to bankrupt them if nothing is done. We know that investments can lead to tremendous breakthroughs in research and treatment. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Senator Collins, along with former Senator Evan Bayh, authored the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which was signed into law by the President in January 2011. The preliminary framework for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Plan, which was authorized by their legislation, was recently released and identified key goals to better treat and prevent Alzheimer’s by the year 2024.
In addition, Senators Collins and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) recently introduced the Spending Reductions through Innovations in Therapies or SPRINT, Act. This bill would authorize $50 million for a public-private program within the Department of Health and Human Services to support advanced research into promising therapies that are most likely to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs for high-cost chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This legislation would continue investment through public-private partnerships – requiring that every $1 in federal funds is matched by $2 in private investment so that federal dollars are best spent on market-tested and market-ready drugs. The bill compresses the product development timelines and increases the volume of drugs in the development pipeline so that priority is given to the most promising pharmaceuticals. Additionally, it expedites the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review process so that drugs can be brought more quickly to market to the patients who need them.
