2010: Getting Serious About Alzheimer's Disease

On December 13th 2010, I wrote about the passage of the Alzheimer’s Project Act being passed by the United States Senate. It was then awaiting a passing vote by the House of Representatives. The House has now voted on and passed this landmark piece of legislation.  It has gone to the President’s desk for signature into law.

The passage of the Alzheimer’s Project Act  by our 111th Congress caps off a productive year of work in making  Alzheimer’s Disease a national priority.

It is worth reviewing the events of 2010 regarding Alzheimer’s research and the growing worldwide concern about the staggering social and financial expenses associated with the disease.

On April 30th 2010, the National Institute of Health released a Draft Statement entitled National Institutes of Health State-Of-The Science Conference Statement / NIH State-of-the-Science Conference: Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline.  The paper reviewed all of the available evidence that can be proven or substantiated about Alzheimer’s Disease from worldwide medical research and  clinical trials.  The NIH report concluded that much of the research that has been done was short on hard evidence about AD causation, progression and risk factors.  In other words, a lot of work had been done in a variety of areas without any major payoffs. The report called for a more organized top down approach to how trials, studies and research is conducted going forward.  

In September 2010 a poll taken by USAagainstAlzheimer’s disclosed that 88% of our registered voters said it was important to make AD a priority, even with the budget deficits we currently face. The poll also revealed a surprising 77% of those Americans interviewed said that they have been touched by Alzheimer’s Disease.

On September 22nd 2010 the World Alzheimer’s Report 2010 was released.

The statistics cited in this report were alarming and scary.  While many of the industrialized nations of the world are slowly taking steps to educate themselves  and their citizens about AD and dementia,  a substantial number of developing nations still lack the funds and resources to provide meaningful assistance to their own target population of both diagnosed and undiagnosed AD citizens. Some developing nations are also hampered by negative and superstitious cultural and tribal taboos regarding AD much like how Leprosy was viewed 150 years ago. 

The report called upon world nations to make dementia a health priority and  to develop national plans for dealing with the disease.

On October 15th 2010, The Shriver Report, A Woman’s Nation Takes On Alzheimer’s was released.  Maria Shriver, an ardent and passionate journalist and advocate  of women’s issues released this report which set off a nationwide dialogue about Alzheimer’s Disease. The nationwide discussion continues while the call for more AD and dementia education and research investment also grows.

The National Alzheimer’s Project Act or  NAPA was finally moved from languishing in a congressional committee to passage by both the Senate and the House of Representatives by mid December 2010.  

The following elements are provided for in this legislation.

A position within the Health and Human Services Administration to  oversee and drive a national AD program. It also provides for the acceleration of treatments to eventually prevent, halt and reverse AD. The act provides for an integrated national plan to overcome AD and coordinate the healthcare and treatment for our citizens with AD. Coordination with the United Nations and other international AD organizations is also included.

We are now beginning to make up for the more than 5 decades of time that followed Dr. Alzheimer’s discovery and naming of the disease in which nothing was done to further our understanding of how AD works or why people succumb to it. We have begun to move past ignorance and disinterest and on to a sense of urgency and national purpose about AD.

There are more than 150 gifted and talented doctors and cutting-edge researchers that contend that  AD can be stopped by the year 2020 given that we act in a forceful way now and with adequate research funding.

We have much work to do in order to make this dream a reality.

Jeff Dodson

December 19th 2010