[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 137 (Tuesday, September 22, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6895-S6896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mr. King, Mr. Schatz, 
        Ms. Ayotte, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Barrasso):
  S. 2067. A bill to establish EUREKA Prize Competitions to accelerate 
discovery and development of disease-modifying, preventive, or curative 
treatments for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, to encourage 
efforts to enhance detection and diagnosis of such diseases, or to 
enhance the quality and efficiency of care of individuals with such 
diseases; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I am wearing purple today in honor of 
World Alzheimer's Month. As a matter of fact, yesterday, September 21, 
was World Alzheimer's Day. So I have chosen today to introduce a bill 
that I hope will lead to a major breakthrough in fighting this terrible 
disease and treating and potentially curing Alzheimer's disease.
  The legislation which I introduced this morning is called the EUREKA 
Act, which stands for Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for 
Alzheimer's--EUREKA.
  I am taking this moment to briefly discuss the problem of Alzheimer's 
and to ask my colleagues to get behind this tripartisan legislation and 
see if we can create some momentum to cure Alzheimer's disease in a 
decade.
  First of all, a little bit about awareness. As we all know, 
Alzheimer's is a 100-percent fatal disease. It affects some 36 million 
people around the

[[Page S6896]]

globe. More than 5 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's 
disease. My mother died of Alzheimer's disease. I can tell you it is an 
incredibly personal trial for families who deal with loved ones 
suffering and ultimately succumbing to this disease. So there is the 
human cost which so many of us have experienced and are experiencing.
  There is also the cost in dollars and cents. Americans will spend 
$226 billion from our Treasury on Alzheimer's this year alone. The 
disease puts an extraordinary burden on Medicare and Medicaid. As a 
matter of fact, one in five Medicare dollars will be spent this year on 
someone with Alzheimer's. Think of what we could do to alleviate the 
suffering our previous speaker was talking about if we didn't have to 
spend this $226 billion per year, if we didn't have to spend one in 
five of our Medicare dollars on someone with Alzheimer's. Consider the 
2013 filing from the Rand Corporation. Direct costs of Alzheimer's 
exceed similar costs associated with cancer and heart disease combined.
  According to Rush University, Alzheimer's is responsible for more 
than 500,000 deaths each year.
  Without a cure or a way to halt this disease, these numbers will 
continue to grow. By 2050 Alzheimer's is expected to cost $1.1 trillion 
per year. By then, Medicare and Medicaid could see a 500-percent 
increase in Alzheimer's spending. So we have a problem in terms of 
dollars and cents, and we certainly have a problem in terms of the 
hardship it causes on families today.
  Experts say we need $2 billion a year in public research if we are 
going to get to this goal of conquering Alzheimer's by 2025. We do the 
best we can at the National Institutes of Health, but we spend only 
$586 million a year on Alzheimer's research. We need $2 billion a year. 
We spend roughly a quarter of that amount each year, with very little 
prospect of getting it up to four times what we are spending now.
  What is the solution? I believe the solution is to go to a concept 
that has made America great for decades and even centuries, and that is 
the American spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship and competition. 
We create, we build, and we make a difference in people's lives through 
competition and innovation. So today I have introduced the EUREKA bill, 
which would establish a national prize for achieving benchmarks in 
fighting this disease. I want to make it clear that the EUREKA Act 
would proceed on a parallel track with what is being done at NIH and 
the Federal Government in terms of research. It wouldn't take a penny 
away from the research dollars currently spent on Alzheimer's and the 
funds used to attack Alzheimer's in so many ways. It would be another 
route for a breakthrough by establishing a competition to run parallel 
to the research being done.
  We will need to research some milestones before we arrive at an 
Alzheimer's cure. This bill would create a system within the 
government, with cooperation from NIH, to encourage public and private 
collaboration to help us establish prizes for milestones reached to 
conquer Alzheimer's. Of course, we need to remember that prizes are 
paid only for success. If we don't meet the milestones, we won't have 
to expend the money.
  My excellent staff and I have been working for months with some of 
the leading experts in the United States on this concept, not the least 
of which is the XPRIZE Foundation, which has done such a good job in 
establishing breakthroughs in other areas. So we have the support and 
cooperation of the XPRIZE Foundation. In addition, we have worked with 
the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration 
to get as much information as possible, and we think we have come up 
with a way to have government-funded prizes to conquer this disease.
  This is nothing new. The XPRIZE Foundation came along relatively 
recently, but it was inspired by previous examples of success. In 1927 
Charles Lindbergh won $25,000 for his Spirit of St. Louis aircraft in a 
competition to achieve the first nonstop flight between New York City 
and Paris. He received a prize for this accomplishment. Today aviation 
is a $300 billion industry. So prizes are not a new strategy. The 
government already invests in countless areas, including health. As a 
matter of fact, the America COMPETES Act gives Federal agencies the 
authority to conduct prize-based challenges. NIH has already completed 
dozens of them. This builds on that success.
  I envision that a panel would be established under this legislation 
to set benchmarks that would get us well along the road to conquering 
Alzheimer's. Successful, prize-worthy events would be measures such as 
identifying an Alzheimer's biomarker, developing early-detection 
techniques, or repurposing existing drugs for treatment. Milestones 
such as these would be established by a panel of experts. Think of what 
could be achieved if people with expertise combine their skills inside 
and outside the government to end Alzheimer's. Think of the progress 
that could be made toward ending human suffering.
  My bill is S. 2067, the EUREKA Act, and it has received support from 
researchers, including the MIND Center at the University of Mississippi 
in my home State, where we are doing innovative, groundbreaking 
achievements every day on Alzheimer's. Other organizations supporting 
the EUREKA Act include the Alzheimer's Association, Us Against 
Alzheimer's, the XPRIZE Foundation, the Alzheimer's Foundation of 
America, BrightFocus Foundation, Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer's 
Disease, otherwise known as LEAD, and Eli Lilly. All of these 
organizations and companies are supporting EUREKA.
  We already have not bipartisan cosponsorship but tripartisan 
cosponsorship of this legislation because we have Republicans, 
Democrats, and Independents already cosponsoring this EUREKA Act.
  So I come to the floor today and ask my colleagues to talk to their 
health staff members. Look at this concept. Talk to us about the 
efforts we are engaged in, about the research we have done, about the 
learned people who know what they are talking about and who have worked 
with us to bring this bill where it is. I hope we can create some 
momentum for this act soon. I hope we can attach it to legislation 
before the end of the year. I hope we can put this on the President's 
desk sometime early in the year 2016.

  EUREKA can be a game changer in fighting one of the most terrible and 
horrible and expensive diseases we have. So I would urge my colleagues 
to look at this, to get back to me. I am going to aggressively be 
talking to each of my colleagues and asking them to cosponsor this 
legislation. I think we are onto something. I think we are getting 
very, very near to achieving this goal of conquering Alzheimer's within 
a decade.
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