Accelerating research on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: NIH's FY 2021 bypass budget and progress report



Richard J. HODES,

Director,

Office of the Director (OD). Director,Office of the Director (OD).

Fifty years ago, American astronauts took one giant leap for humankind by landing on the moon. This extraordinary achievement took immeasurable courage, conviction, commitment, and collaboration—and the need for these sterling traits is echoed in our goal to achieve substantive progress against Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias by 2025.

NIH estimates that we will need a total of $2.882 billion in FY 2021, including $354 million in additional resources for new research, to accelerate and expand the remarkable research progress made toward the 2025 goal. To propose this budget, NIH considered multiple factors.

We reviewed progress to date and recommendations from recent summits to arrive at a list of research goals. We then evaluated these goals relative to our current budget and the projected budget for next year. Finally, we looked at funds we expect to recover from research that is ending. The result was the final figure of $354 million in additional resources.

Recent advances, new initiatives

On behalf of NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, I presented the FY 2021 Bypass Budget at the July 29 meeting of the HHS Secretary's Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services. The release of this information recognizes a remarkable period of scientific growth and discovery as we push toward our objective, including progress in:

Deeper understanding of genetic risk factors

Revealing disease mechanisms

Finding better biomarkers to detect and diagnose disease

Accelerating drug design into human testing

Making clinical trials more efficient and inclusive

Intensifying research on care and services

Together we succeed

I am encouraged by the progress outlined in the latest bypass budget proposal and look forward to expanding our broad and collaborative efforts at NIH and beyond. Far too many people have watched loved ones succumb to this mind-destroying disease! It is with deep gratitude that I acknowledge the critical role of millions of stakeholders—people living with these devastating dementias, their caregivers, clinical trial participants, NIH-supported scientists, advocates, and public officials across the country—in providing the crucial collective force necessary to address these scourges of our time. I hope you’ll take some time to read through the report (PDF, 2.6M) and share your comments below.