Thursday, October 1, 2009

Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act Promising

The Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act is a tremendous step in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. There are more than five million people living with Alzheimer's disease, and that number is expected to soar to as many as 16 million by mid-century.

This important legislation passed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) offers promise for someday having a world without Alzheimer's disease.

By calling for a doubling of the funding for Alzheimer's research at the National Institutes of Health from $640 million to $1.3 billion, this bold legislation authorizes the necessary resources to restore momentum in the pursuit of better diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this devastating disease.

New treatments that alter the course of the disease could save millions of baby boomers from the disease and yield $61 billion in annual Medicare and Medicaid savings within five years of a breakthrough. The Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act is the necessary impetus to create this important outcome.

Full Article and Source:
Alzheimer's Bill Promises More Funding for Research

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no reason our efforts to solve Alzheimer's and other memory impairment conditions isn't a priority in this country.

On the other hand, the term Alzheimer's is used too frequently - and that is harmful too.

People who have memory problems don't automatically have Alzheimer's.

The label often opens the door for guardianship.

We need to train ourselves to say "memory impairment" instead of automatically saying "Alzheimer's".

Anonymous said...

More and more people are affected with this terrible disease.

Something has to be done - let's divert all the research money currently spent on Viagra to Alzheimer's research!

Mike said...

I think of "The Long Goodbye" when I hear of Alzheimers.

It's a terrible, terrible disease and it's getting to be more feared than cancer.

We need to make a concentrated effort to cure it.

Anonymous said...

Good news, HELP --- very good news.