Comedian Seth Rogen testified Wednesday before a Senate appropriations subcommittee about the importance of Alzheimer’s research. The self-described “lazy, self-involved, generally self-medicated man-child” said Alzheimer’s is one of this issues that he is most passionate about. (Sara Olstad/Medill)
WASHINGTON – An unlikely combination of advocates, comedian Seth Rogen and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, came together to urge Congress to provide more funding for Alzheimer’s research Wednesday.
The pair and other experts testified before a Senate appropriations subcommittee in a room packed with Alzheimer’s Association supporters, all of whom wore purple sashes to promote the organization.
The NIH’s budget has fluctuated significantly in recent years, which has made it difficult to award grants as promised, Collins said. The 2013 across-the-board federal agency cuts required the agency to cut 5 percent, $1.55 billion, of its budget that year. In January, Congress increased its budget to $30 billion for the remainder of the 2014 fiscal year, but it was still lower than in 2012.
“I think we are not at the moment limited by ideas. We are not limited by scientific opportunities,” Collins said. “We are unfortunately limited by resources to be able to move this enterprise forward at a pace that it could take.”
Rogen echoed Collins’s call for Congress to provide additional Alzheimer’s research funding.
“The money for the research in this area is so sporadic and inconsistent that people … are discouraged from entering this pursuit because it’s not as financially stable as the diseases that are having great strides taken in conquering them. … Alzheimer’s just isn’t a cool disease, unfortunately,” he said.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the comedian was successful in his “brief stint as a lobbyist.” Rogen is the founder of Hilarity for Charity, an organization that encourages young people to support Alzheimer’s research. His mother-in-law suffers from the disease.
Even though he is a self-described “lazy, self-involved, generally self-medicated man-child,” Rogen said he and other advocates will work tirelessly to raise funds and awareness until a cure is found.
“Americans whisper the world Alzheimer’s … Although a whisper is better than the silence that the Alzheimer’s community has been facing for decades, it’s still not enough,” he said. “It needs to be yelled and screamed to the point that it finally gets the attention and funding it deserves and needs.”
Approximately $500 million goes to Alzheimer’s research funding annually, said Harkin, who is chairman of the subcommittee and said he will try to get more money for Alzheimer’s research next year.
“In 1962 President Kennedy called the nation to action to reach the moon by the end of that decade. We commit ourselves to the goal of advancing Alzheimer’s research with the same ambition and urgency,” said Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, the leading Republican on the subcommittee. “Over the next decade we must strive not only to achieve effective treatment but a cure for Alzheimer’s.”
Data courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Institute of Health and Michael Hurd, director of the RAND Center for the Study of Aging Corporation
If Congress fails to act, it will have long-term repercussions because the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease will increase exponentially as baby boomers age, Collins said.
The cost of caring for Americans with memory loss in 2010 was estimated to be at least $159 billion and possibly as high as $215 billion, and is expected to grow to an estimated $511 billion by 2040. Approximately 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s today. By 2040, estimates suggest that almost 12 million people in the U.S. will have developed the disease, Collins added.
