U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that the Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act of 2007 (S. 898) passed the full Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Bond co-sponsored the comprehensive legislation with Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to increase federal resources to fight Alzheimer’s disease.

“Alzheimer’s is an important issue for many of America’s families,” said Bond. “This bill will encourage breakthroughs in research and offer hope to all those suffering from the disease today.”

The Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act of 2007 doubles funding for Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from $640 million to $1.3 billion. It will create a national summit on Alzheimer’s to look at the most promising breakthroughs. The bill also creates a caregiver support system that provides updated news, resources and tools for caregivers, families and physicians.

In 2004, Senators Bond and Mikulski first introduced the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act as a living memorial to honor President Reagan, who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Reagan increased Alzheimer’s awareness in America when he publicly revealed that he was diagnosed with the disease in November 1994, five years after the end of his second term as president. Deteriorating from Alzheimer’s, Reagan passed away in June 2004.

Bond stressed the importance of tackling Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, the number of individual age 65 and over with Alzheimer’s could range from 11 million to 16 million unless science finds a way to prevent or treat effectively the disease.

In addition to the human suffering, this disease is a rapidly expanding and placing a huge burden on the nation’s health care system, Bond pointed out. Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias use significantly more services and have significantly higher costs than other beneficiaries. In 2005, Medicare spent $91 billion on beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, this cost is projected to increase to $160 billion by 2010 and $189 billion by 2015.

Stephen McConnell, Alzheimer's Association Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy praised Bond and Mikulski for their work, “The Alzheimer’s Association applauds Senators Mikulski and Bond for championing this effort; as well as the members of the Senate HELP Committee on their support of this legislation. It is a significant step forward in the fight against this disease.”

###