23 Dec 2019

Continuing a steady climb in funding for Alzheimer’s research, the Senate approved a $350 million increase in funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research at the National Institutes of Health for the 2020 fiscal year. The appropriation bill, signed into law by President Trump on December 20, also included $10 million to implement the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act.

The funding boost will bring the total NIH funding allocated to AD research to $2.8 billion. It represents the latest in a steady series of upticks in NIH funding to study the disease, including last year’s $425 million boost (Aug 2018 news; May 2017 news; Jul 2016 news; Dec 2015 news). 

“Over the last four to five years with increased NIH funding, key findings have been made demonstrating things such as the ability to detect AD-brain pathology with a blood test, findings on the role of protein aggregation seeding and spreading, key new findings on the role of the brain’s innate immune response on AD progression, the discovery of the brain’s lymphatic system, new genes and pathways linked to disease, and the potential role of infections and the microbiome in disease,” wrote David Holtzman of Washington University in St. Louis. “I think the increase in funding will capitalize on these findings and get us to needed treatments which are not yet available even faster.”

Eric Reiman of Banner Health, Phoenix, also welcomed the budget increase. “With this continued support, I am personally excited about the chance for the field to develop and use blood-based biomarkers, find faster, less expensive and more informative read-outs in early phase trials, and continue to accelerate the evaluation of promising drugs and lifestyle interventions in prevention trials,” he noted.—Jessica Shugart