[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 29 (Monday, July 24, 2000)]
[Page 1653]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement Announcing Funding for Research on the Prevention and 
Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

July 16, 2000

    Earlier this week, we learned that there has been exciting new 
progress in our quest to understand the root cause of and to possibly 
prevent Alzheimer's disease. In the absence of successful efforts to 
prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease, the number of our citizens 
afflicted with this devastating condition will more than triple over the 
next 50 years--from 4 to 14 million Americans.
    Today I am pleased to announce that the National Institutes of 
Health, through the National Institute on Aging, will dedicate $50 
million to new research on the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's 
disease, with a particular emphasis on the development of a vaccine to 
prevent the disease. This research, which builds on the encouraging 
findings reported this week at the World Alzheimer's Congress 2000, 
provides new hope not only for Americans who are at risk for developing 
Alzheimer's disease in the future but for those who are already in its 
early stages.
    It is more clear than ever that the Nation must continue its strong 
bipartisan support for biomedical research on the causes, treatments, 
and cures for Alzheimer's disease and other diseases affecting millions 
of Americans. Our public investment has and will continue to yield 
extraordinary advances in treatment. However, these treatments will not 
be available or affordable to millions of older Americans and people 
with disabilities if the Congress does not pass a meaningful Medicare 
prescription drug benefit this year.
    I am pleased that there is growing bipartisan support for a real 
Medicare drug benefit--not a flawed private insurance model. Just as we 
have worked in a bipartisan manner to support biomedical research, we 
must do so for a long overdue Medicare prescription drug benefit.