US boosts funding for Alzheimer's research

The administration of US President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday it will boost funding for research into Alzheimer's disease by $130 million, a 25 percent increase over the next two years.

Leading health officials said an extra $50 million would be made available immediately for cutting-edge Alzheimer's research and that the fiscal year 2013 budget to be released next week would aim to boost such funding by $80 million.

An additional $26 million will also be allocated to "caregiver support, provider education, public awareness and improvements in data infrastructure," officials said.

"We can't wait to confront the growing threat that Alzheimer's disease poses to American families and to our nation as a whole," said Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

"The time for bold action on the growing public health challenge posed by Alzheimer's is right now," she told reporters.

Some 5.1 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative brain disorder for which there is no cure.

Due to the aging population, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease in the United States is projected to more than double by 2050.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins told reporters that important clues about Alzheimer's have been uncovered over the past 40 years, but progress toward eliminating the disease has been difficult.

"To be honest, turning these advances into effective strategies for treatment and prevention has proven very challenging and elusive, a frustrating situation for researchers and patients alike," he said.

"But we now have cause for greater optimism."

Collins described recent advances in research, including an NIH-funded study on mice released last week month that showed Alzheimer's starts in one part of the brain in the memory center and progressively moves on to infect other parts.

"It has generated a lot of excitement among those working on treatments. Why is that? It means that if we detect Alzheimer's early we might be able to stop the disease in its tracks by applying agents that can block its spread," he said.

"Thanks to the new infusion of funds announced today, I think Alzheimer's research is poised for some great discoveries."

NIH spends about $450 million a year on Alzheimer's research at present.

The new funds will be directed toward basic and clinical research, identifying genes that raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease and testing therapies in people at high risk for the disease, officials said.

Funds may also help speed new clinical trials on treatment approaches and help develop better national databases on the extent of cognitive impairment and dementia.

Last year, Obama signed the National Alzheimer's Project Act which urges a country-wide plan against the disease with the goal of preventing it and curing it by 2025.

Experts said the effort is particularly crucial in the United States, where the proportion of older people is on the rise with 9,000 people turning 65 every day, and costs associated with Alzheimer's expected to reach three trillion dollars over the next decade.

"We're racing against the clock to advance a solution to this crisis from both cure and care standpoints," said Alzheimer's Foundation of America president Eric Hall.

"Our aging population can't wait any longer. This type of investment is critical so that it doesn't cost the government, as well as families, more in the long run."

Scott Turner, director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, said the announcement was "encouraging" but added "this disease remains by far the most underfunded when compared to its public health impact."

George Vradenburg, co-founder and chairman of the group USAgainstAlzheimer's, urged lawmakers to make Alzheimer's a priority, noting the US only spends annually about $90 per person with the disease.

"This increase in funding is a modest first step. We intend to work with Congress to mobilize the scale of resources needed to match the scale of the fiscal and health challenge of stopping Alzheimer's in the next decade," he said.

"We have just begun this fight against Alzheimer's in earnest; we have a long way to go."

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Official quits US breast cancer group after funding row

A senior executive with the US-based Komen breast cancer foundation with strong anti-abortion views stepped down Tuesday in the aftermath of a bruising funding furor with Planned Parenthood.

In a statement, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure said it had accepted the resignation of Karen Handel, its senior vice president for policy since April 2011 and a one-time Republican candidate for governor of Georgia.

"I have known Karen for many years, and we both share a common commitment to our organization's lifelong mission, which must always remain our sole focus," Komen founder Nancy Brinker said. "I wish her the best in future endeavors."

On Friday, Komen reversed its decision to stop funding breast screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics after an outcry over the move triggered a political and fund-raising backlash by women's health advocates.

Handel, 49, was widely believed to have been a key player in Komen's decision to end its long-standing ties with Planned Parenthood, given her opposition to abortion.

She had been hired by Komen to be its vice president for public policy and chief lobbyist in Washington.

But in her letter of resignation, Handel said the decision to cut funding was not based "on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology," according to an excerpt in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

She said the way Komen gives money to other organizations had been revised before she joined the foundation, and the decision to halt funding to Planned Parenthood had been vetted at all levels.

"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it," she wrote in her emailed letter to Brinker.

"I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve."

Last week's very public row drove in nearly $3 million in donations for Planned Parenthood in a matter of days, before Komen backed down and apologized, pledging to continue its funding.

Planned Parenthood is the biggest single abortion provider in the United States, especially for low-income women, while Komen has been a leader in the fight against breast cancer with its high-profile "pink ribbon" campaigns.

Komen had initially said it would cease funding because Planned Parenthood was under investigation, and new rules agreed by the charity's leadership allowed it to stop issuing grants to groups in such cases.

The probe was by a Republican lawmaker from Florida, Cliff Stearns, who launched an inquiry into Planned Parenthood over how it handled federal funds and whether such money was used for abortions, which would be illegal.

The ensuing row saw an outpouring of support for Planned Parenthood, with 10,000 supporters -- including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Tour de France cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong -- coming forward to help.

Komen reversed its decision on Friday, as Planned Parenthood alleged that the foundation had been the victim of what it called "political bullying" on the part of anti-abortion activists.

In her statement Tuesday, Brinker said: "We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission."

She added: "The stakes are simply too high and providing hope for a cure must drive our efforts."

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