WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration wants to spend just over half a billion dollars on Alzheimer’s research next year, hoping to battle back against what could become the defining disease of the aging babyboom generation.
Not all the spending must wait for approval from Congress: Under the plan being announced today, the National Institutes of Health will devote an extra $50 million to Alzheimer’s research this year — opening the possibility that at least one stalled study of a possible therapy might get to start soon.
“The science of Alzheimer’s disease has reached a very interesting juncture,” with promising new findings to pursue after years of false starts, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins told The Associated Press. “We would love to be able to come up with a way of bringing forward an even larger amount of support.”
The NIH currently spends $ 450 million a year on Alzheimer’s research. In his budget proposal to be released next week, President Barack Obama will ask Congress for $80 million in new money for Alzheimer’s research next year, Collins said.
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