Broad Research Hike Urged for Alzheimer's

Abstract

Michelle G. Sullivan is with the Mid-Atlantic bureau of Elsevier Global Medical News. WASHINGTON — A firm federal commitment to increased biomedical-research funding is the best defense against the coming tidal wave of Alzheimer's disease, according to Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Addressing a hearing called by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Mr. Gingrich urged annual overall funding increases of “at least” 7% after inflation for the National Institutes of Health. “This is simply what's necessary to maintain the forward pace of research,” Mr. Gingrich told committee members. He urged similarly broad financial support for the National Science Foundation (NSF), which sponsors research in math, physics, and chemistry that, Mr. Gingrich said, provides the foundation for both the drugs and imaging systems necessary to fight Alzheimer's. “The biggest mistake I made as Speaker was not tripling the National Science Foundation budget and, as a result, we are not getting the investments we need [in these areas],” he said. “Most of the research that underlies the imaging technology we have today, which allows us to have real-time images of a living brain, was developed at the NSF.” Mr. Gingrich addressed the Senate committee in his role as the founder and a member of the Alzheimer's Study Group, a bipartisan think tank urging a national strategic plan to deal with the projected surge in Alzheimer's disease. In the United States, prevalence could rise from the current 4.5 million to more than 13 million during by 2050. Such an increase would devastate the country's health care system and seriously harm the overall economy, Mr. Gingrich told the committee. By 2050, federal government spending on care for Alzheimer's patients could dwarf the current annual bill of $150 million. “Federal spending on Alzheimer's [care] will increase to more than $1 trillion per year by 2050, in today's dollars—that is more than one-tenth of America's current economy.” Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose husband John O'Connor suffers from advanced Alzheimer's, also urged the committee to support research. While a cure would be the “Holy Grail,” she said, even a drug that could delay the onset of Alzheimer's by just 5 years would reap a huge cost savings. “We are at a point where we have to ask ourselves, is this increase in Alzheimer's inevitable?” she said. “With a strong commitment to research, I do not think it is.” The government could also step up the pace of research with legislation encouraging private investment, Mr. Gingrich said. “Brain research is a very complicated area and as a result, pharmaceutical companies don't want to invest a lot in it,” he said. “To encourage their investment, I would strongly urge you to amend the Orphan Drug Act to include all brain research as orphan drug activity.” The downside of following the orphan-drug path would be longer-than-normal patents on any drugs developed, Mr. Gingrich said. But the payoff would be worth the increase in costs resulting from drugs being slow to go generic, he asserted. “Before a drug can go generic, it needs to be created and available to help people.” Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) called the hearing to support a bill that would double the funding specifically for Alzheimer's research at the National Institutes of Health to $1.3 billion, the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act (S. 898). That bill was introduced last year and passed the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. It made the Senate Legislative Calendar in August but hasn't moved since then.