Though you wouldn't know it to look at me, Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease that damages and eventually destroys brain cells, leading to a loss of memory and other cognitive skills. Eventually, Alzheimer's is fatal. Recent funding increases for Alzheimer's research have led to significant scientific progress toward understanding what causes the disease, as well as developing interventions that may prevent and treat it.
I was very hopeful about Aduhelm, the Alzheimer's drug approved by the FDA last summer, and I was devastated when Medicare refused to cover it. But I don't have time to wallow! I'm going to keep using my voice to urge Congress to fulfill its bipartisan commitment made in the 2011 National Alzheimer's Project Act, to develop a disease altering treatment for Alzheimer's by 2025.
I am grateful to our Congressman, Eric Swalwell, for his commitment to this goal, and for his ongoing friendship and support for research funding and other policies to help those living with Alzheimer's and other dementia. The number of Californians living with Alzheimer's is projected to double in the next 20 years. If you don't know someone living with it now, odds are you'll know someone with it soon!
Please join me in asking Congressman Swalwell and Senators Feinstein and Padilla to continue the commitment by supporting a $226M increase for Alzheimer's research as requested by the National Institutes of Health for Fiscal Year 2023. To learn more about the bipartisan, grassroots movement to end Alzheimer's disease and how you can get involved, visit www.alzimpact.org.
