Officials need to push Alzheimer's research

Over the past few years, there has been growing recognition of the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease but the funding to find a cure lags dramatically behind what’s necessary.

My family has become familiar with the devastating effects of this disease, as we lost my father, a World War II veteran, recently to Alzheimer’s disease. We now realize how many families are being affected by Alzheimer’s and the numbers will grow substantially in the years ahead.

In 2010, Congress unanimously passed legislation that set a goal of finding a treatment for Alzheimer’s by 2025. However, the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) research on dementia has not increased to the $2 billion a year level that scientists say is needed.

In fact, for every $100 spent on Alzheimer’s research, Medicare and Medicaid programs spend $26,000 to care for people with the disease.

Currently, there are 100,000 Washingtonians living with Alzheimer’s and that number will grow to 140,000 by 2025. We must invest more to find effective treatments and ultimately a cure now. If we don’t, Alzheimer’s is a threat to the long-term financial viability of Medicare and Medicaid.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a bill giving $350 million more to the NIH for Alzheimer’s research, while the House Committee has voted $300 million. Even if the lower figure is signed into law, it would be a 50 percent increase in research funding for this disease.

I ask that you join me in urging senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as Fifth District Congressional Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, to vote for this vital Alzheimer’s research boost and push to make sure it is in the final appropriations bill enacted into law.

Mark M. Newbold

Spokane