HHS announcing finalized Alzheimer's plan

May 16 2012

The plan, which includes an emphasis on research, sets 2025 as the target date for finding effective treatments for this disease.  

National Journal: HHS Announces New Alzheimer's Plan Tuesday
Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius releases the administration's plan for fighting Alzheimer's disease later on Tuesday at the National Institutes of Health. Aging experts have been warning that the U.S. faces an epidemic of Alzheimer's as the giant Baby Boom generation hits the senior years. A team led by Denis Evans at Rush-Presbyterian–St Luke's Medical  in Chicago projected in 2003 that by 2050, more than 13 million Americans will have the incurable brain disease, compared to about 5 million now (Fox, 5/14).

The Associated Press: Clock Ticking With New Plan To Fight Alzheimer's
The Obama administration is adopting a landmark national strategy to fight Alzheimer's disease, with an ambitious goal of finding some effective treatments by 2025. For families suffering today, the first National Alzheimer's Plan offers some help too. Starting Tuesday, families can turn to a one-stop website, www.alzheimers.gov, for easy-to-understand information about where to get help. Doctors also will get a chance to receive training on how to better care for people with Alzheimer's (Neergaard, 5/15).

Reuters: U.S. Launches Ambitious Alzheimer's Plan With Research Push
The U.S. government launched an ambitious push to develop new treatments for Alzheimer's on Tuesday with a first prevention study of high-risk patients and tests on an insulin nasal spray that has shown promise in earlier studies. The trials, funded by grants of $16 million and $7.9 million respectively, are part of a national Alzheimer's plan, a sweeping effort to find an effective way to prevent or treat Alzheimer's by 2025 and improve the care of those already afflicted with the brain-wasting disease (Steenhuysen, 5/15).

CQ HealthBeat: Collins Sees Opening to Accelerate Progress Against Alzheimer's
National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins kicked off a two-day scientific conference on Alzheimer's disease Monday by saying he sees great promise in recent efforts to counter the mind-destroying condition. "We might be able to accelerate progress in a way that offers real hope to those individuals who are affected," he told researchers at the NIH Bethesda campus for the meeting (Reichard, 5/14).

CBS (Video): Promising Alzheimer's Research Delayed By Shortage Of Volunteer Patients
In Bethesda, Md. Monday, the National Institutes of Health began hosting a two-day summit on the fight against Alzheimer's disease. More than 5 million Americans have the disease, a number expected to triple by 2050. And researchers trying to defeat the disease are facing an unexpected hurdle, as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. ... "The problem is finding volunteers to join the studies," Turner said. "Patients." This one study of 750 patients is 250 patients short. Nationally, the shortfall is in the thousands, with almost every clinical trial related to Alzheimer's needing more volunteers (Andrews, 5/14).