Senators Markey, Collins Applaud Senate Passage of Bills to Combat Alzheimer’s

Senator Markey was the House author of the National Alzheimer's Project Act and Alzheimer's Accountability Act

Washington (July 30, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), co-founders and co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's, and authors of the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA)and the Alzheimer's Accountability Act, led the successful passage of the bills that would cement and build on the important progress that has been made to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's disease. The National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA) Reauthorization and the Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Act (AAIA) now await consideration by the House of Representatives.

"Since my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1985, I have fought tirelessly to ensure the federal government has the funding, resources, and coordination necessary to find a cure for this disease," said Senator Markey. "Since we passed the National Alzheimer's Plan Act in 2011 and the Alzheimer's Accountability Act in 2014 with the goals of curing Alzheimer's by 2025, Congress' investment has transformed our understanding of the disease and its risk factors. But the work is not yet done. So, today, I join with my partners in the fight to celebrate the Senate's extension of these critical laws until 2035. Today's passage of these critical bills is a commitment from Congress that we will not stop fighting until Alzheimer's is a disease only found in history books. I thank my colleagues, Senator Collins and Warner for their partnership in delivering hope to millions of families just like mine across the country."

"We have made tremendous progress in recent years to boost funding for Alzheimer's research, which holds great promise to end this disease that has had a devastating effect on millions of Americans and their families," said Senator Collins. "These two bills will maintain our momentum and make sure that we do not take our foot off the pedal just as our investments in basic research are beginning to translate into potential new treatments. We must not let Alzheimer's to be one of the defining diseases of our children's generation as it has ours."

More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's costs our nation an astonishing $360 billion per year, including $231 billion in costs to Medicare and Medicaid. If we continue along this trajectory, Alzheimer's is projected to claim the minds of 13.8 million seniors by 2060 and nearly surpass $1 trillion in annual costs by 2050. In 2022, family caregivers provided 18 billion hours of unpaid care for loved ones with dementia.

The NAPA Reauthorization Act-co-led by Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Warner (D-VA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)-would reauthorize NAPA through 2035 and modernize the legislation to reflect strides that have been made to understand the disease, such as including a new focus on promoting healthy aging and reducing risk factors. The bill also includes updated language in recognition of the need to include underserved populations, including individuals with Down syndrome, who are at increased risk for Alzheimer's as they age. This bill is now endorsed by the National Down Syndrome Society, the National Down Syndrome Congress, and LuMind IDSC Foundation.

The Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Act-authored by Senators Markey, Collins, Capito, Warner, Moran, Menendez, Murkowski, and Stabenow-would continue through 2035 a requirement that the Director of the National Institutes of Health submit an annual budget to Congress estimating the funding necessary to fully implement NAPA's research goals. Only two other areas of biomedical research - cancer and HIV/AIDS - have been the subject of special budget development aimed at speeding discovery.

The NAPA Reauthorization Act and Alzheimer's Accountability and Investment Acts are endorsed by the Alzheimer's Association and UsAgainstAlzheimer's.

Senator Markey is a leader in the fight to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. As a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Markey founded the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's to develop a whole-of-government approach to finding a cure for Alzheimer's. He created the Independence at Home program to provide seniors, including individuals with Alzheimer's and other dementia, the option to receive primary care in their home. Senator Markey authored the bipartisan Spending Reductions Through Innovations in Therapies (SPRINT) Act, which would encourage drug development for high-cost, chronic health conditions such as Alzheimer's, the Health Outcomes, Planning and Education (HOPE) Act to improve early detection and diagnoses of Alzheimer's and support caregivers, and the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act, which would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) work to improve treatment outcomes and engage federal agencies in the effort to combat Alzheimer's.

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