Senate Resolution 74 -- Declaring that Achieving the Primary Goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease of the Department of Health and Human Services to Prevent and Effectively Treat...

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that
takes a tremendous personal and economic toll on the individual, the
family, and society. In addition to the human suffering it causes,
Alzheimer's costs the United States an estimated $226 billion a year,
including $153 billion from the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. These
costs will only skyrocket as the baby boom generation ages. Already our
Nation's costliest disease, Alzheimer's is projected to cost more than
$1.1 trillion if nothing is done to change its current trajectory. It
is now estimated that nearly one in two of the baby boomers reaching
age 85 will develop Alzheimer's. As a consequence, chances are that
members of the baby boom generation will either be spending their
golden years suffering with Alzheimer's or caring for someone who has
it. In many ways Alzheimer's has become the defining disease of this
generation.

If we are to prevent Alzheimer's from becoming the defining disease
of the next generation, it is imperative that we dramatically increase
our investment in Alzheimer's research. At a time when the United
States is spending some $226 billion a year caring for Alzheimer's
patients, we are spending less than three-tenths of 1 percent of that
amount--under $600 million a year--on research. This makes no sense. We
currently spend $4.5 billion a year for cancer research, $3 billion a
year for research on HIV-AIDS, and $2 billion for cardiovascular
research--all investments that have paid dividends.

Surely we can do more for Alzheimer's given the tremendous human and
economic price of this devastating disease. Investments in research for
other diseases have yielded tremendous results. We see that with
cancer, with HIV/AIDS. Patients have access to new treatments, and
death rates for some of these diseases are decreasing. At the same
time, mortality due to Alzheimer's is escalating.

Alzheimer's is one of our Nation's leading causes of death, with
recent data revealing that each year more than 500,000 deaths are
attributable to Alzheimer's and other dementia, 6 times the amount
previously estimated. Moreover, Alzheimer's is the only one of our
Nation's top 10 deadliest diseases without an effective means of
prevention, treatment or a cure.

Fortunately there is promising research that holds hope for
Alzheimer's patients and their families. The research community is
poised to make important advances through clinical trials and by
investigating new therapeutic targets, but adequate funding is critical
to achieve this promise. The National Plan to Address Alzheimer's
Disease was authorized by the bipartisan National Alzheimer's Act,
which I coauthored with then-Senator Evan Bayh.

The national plan has as its primary goal to prevent and effectively
treat Alzheimer's disease by the year 2025. The chairman of the
advisory council that was created by the act, Dr. Ronald Petersen of
the Mayo Clinic, has testified before Congress that the United States
should be devoting $2 billion a year at a minimum to Alzheimer's
research in order to reach that goal.

A dramatic increase in funding for Alzheimer's research will not just
save lives, it will also save money. According to a report issued by
the Alzheimer's Association last year, a Federal investment of $2
billion a year between now and the year 2025, as recommended by the
experts on the Alzheimer's Advisory Council and the scientific
community more broadly, would be recouped within the first 3 years
after a treatment delaying the onset of Alzheimer's by just 5 years
becomes available.

I am therefore pleased to be introducing today, with my colleagues
Senators Klobuchar, Mikulski, Warner, Durbin, and Stabenow, a
resolution declaring that the goal of preventing and effectively
treating Alzheimer's is an urgent national priority. In recognition of
the fact that bold action and considerable increases in funding are
necessary to meet that goal, our resolution states that the Senate will
strive to double the amount of funding the United States spends on
Alzheimer's research in fiscal year 2016 and that we will develop a
plan to meet the target of $2 billion over the next 5 years.

Our bill is supported by a number of organizations including the
Alzheimer's Association, UsAgainstAlzheimer's, the Leaders Engaged on
Alzheimer's Disease--or the LEAD Coalition--and the Alzheimer's
Foundation of America.

I ask unanimous consent that the letters from these organizations be
printed in the Record.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, we have to face the facts that if we do
not invest in Alzheimer's research at the levels the experts tell us is
necessary to develop effective treatments for this disease or perhaps a
means of prevention or eventually a cure, this disease is going to
continue to cause untold suffering not only for its victims but for its
families, and it will bankrupt America 's health care system.

I urge our colleagues to join us as cosponsors. I want, in
particular, to recognize my partner in this effort, the Senator from
Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar. The home of the Mayo Clinic is in her State.
She has been stalwart in supporting the efforts to increase funding for
Alzheimer's research.

With that, I am very pleased to yield to my partner, Senator
Klobuchar.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source