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Public funding for Alzheimer disease research in the United States

Nature Medicine volume 12, pages 770–773 (2006)Cite this article

Some 4.5 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer disease. Scientists estimate that as the population continues to age and baby boomers reach retirement age and beyond, this number will triple by the year 2050 (ref. 1). Alzheimer disease remains the most common cause of dementia among people age 65 and older and is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States2. As with all of its research support, NIH funding priorities for Alzheimer disease are driven by this increasing public health need and by emerging scientific opportunities that may not only advance our understanding of disease mechanisms but may also enable us to develop effective interventions to ameliorate or, one day, prevent this devastating disease.

In the United States, the principal source of funding for Alzheimer disease research is the federal government through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH supports the work of both intramural researchers in Maryland and grantees at public and private institutions across the nation. In fiscal year 2005, the NIH funded $656 million in Alzheimer disease research (http://www.nih.gov/news/fundingresearchareas.htm). Slightly more than $505 million of this was funded through the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the lead federal agency for biomedical research on Alzheimer disease. Other NIH institutes with significant Alzheimer disease research portfolios are the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). The NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov) provides a framework for cooperative activities among the NIH institutes, including the articulation of emerging needs and scientific directions for research on neurodegeneration. Several NIH Roadmap (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov) initiatives provide innovative infrastructure important for these efforts, with a focus on support for both basic and translational research and on high-risk science with potential to impact critical areas of public health. The NIH is joined by a number of federal partners, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration on Aging and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as such nonprofit organizations as the Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, an affiliated public charity of the Institute for the Study of Aging. In addition, the NIH works closely with state and local initiatives.

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References

  1. Herbert, L.E. et al. Arch. Neurol. 60, 1119–1122 (2003).

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  2. Hoyert, D.C., Heron, M., Murphy, S.L. & Kung, H.C. Deaths: Final Data for 2003. Health E-Stats, released January 19, 2006. Go to http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/finaldeaths03/finaldeaths03.htm.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the assistance of NIA staff members M. Morrison-Bogorad, K. Nagy, K. Reed and S. Speciale in the development of this article.

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  1. National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Room 5C35, 31 Center Drive, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Richard J Hodes

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Correspondence to Richard J Hodes.

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Hodes, R. Public funding for Alzheimer disease research in the United States. Nat Med 12, 770–773 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0706-770

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