Legislation to put focus on Alzheimer’s prevention passes Senate committee

Two bills that would build on the important progress made to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease advanced the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee by a 20-1 vote yesterday.

The bills, the NAPA Reauthorization Act and the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act, aim to find a cure for the disease and moved forward with a huge bipartisan margin.

More than 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, which costs the United States $345 billion per year, including $222 billion in costs to Medicare and Medicaid. Alzheimer’s is projected to claim the minds of 13.8 million seniors by 2060 and nearly surpass $1 trillion in annual costs by 2050. Family caregivers provided 18 billion hours of unpaid care for loved ones with dementia in 2022.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia is co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease.

“I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s after a courageous decade-long fight, so I understand the toll this terrible disease takes on seniors and families,” he said. “Today’s resounding bipartisan vote is a great step toward reauthorizing some of the most powerful tools we have to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. I look forward to getting it across the finish line.”

The NAPA Reauthorization Act, authored by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and co-led by Sens. Warner, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Lisa Murkowski of Arkansas and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, would reauthorize the National Alzheimer’s Project through 2035 and modernize the legislation to reflect strides that have been made to understand the disease, such as including a new focus on promoting healthy aging and reducing risk factors. The National Alzheimer’s Project brings the whole of government together to make recommendations to improve policies and care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers and families.

The Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act is also authored by Collins, Warner, Capito, Markey, Moran, Menendez, Murkowski, and Stabenow, and would continue through 2035 a requirement that the Director of the National Institutes of Health submit an annual budget to Congress estimating the funding necessary to fully implement NAPA’s research goals. Only two other areas of biomedical research — cancer and HIV/AIDS — have been the subject of special budget development aimed at speeding discovery.

The NAPA Reauthorization Act and Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act are endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Association and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.