Wicker: Senate Supermajority Backs EUREKA

Press Release

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., authored the "Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer's (EUREKA) Act," S. 2067, last September to create prize-based incentives to encourage more public-private collaboration in the fight against Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. As of July 14, the bipartisan bill has reached a total of 61 Senate cosponsors.

"My EUREKA bill is an answer to a devastating disease that impacts more than five million Americans today," Wicker said. "It would not take money away from taxpayers or current research initiatives. It would require funding only when pioneering advancements are made toward a cure for Alzheimer's, truly making a difference in people's lives. I am grateful that three-fifths of my Senate colleagues are ready to put the best minds together to achieve breakthroughs in treatments, prevention, and ultimately a cure. This is our charge for the 21st century, and we cannot rest until we achieve success."

The legislation would not replace other funding and research initiatives for Alzheimer's but add another route for breakthroughs. Further, the bill would authorize the Director of the NIH to work with other federal agencies to establish prize challenges informed by the research milestones contained in the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease. Challenges could focus on a number of areas:

Identification and validation of Alzheimer's biomarkers;
Development of non-invasive and cost-effective early detection and diagnostic tools;
Repurposing of existing drugs to address Alzheimer's disease; and
Development of new tools and approaches to care for persons with Alzheimer's disease and improve their quality of life.

Prize challenges enable government sponsors to pay only when a prize team achieves specified goals or milestones. Although funds will be authorized and reserved for awards, prizes will only be granted when teams achieve clearly defined objectives, making the EUREKA Act a cost-effective tool to spur leading-edge research. Additionally, EUREKA would permit the receipt of donations from the private and philanthropic sectors to fund the competition and build the award fund.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has set a goal of curing Alzheimer's by 2025. Today, Alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in America and has a 100 percent fatality rate. According to a report released earlier this year, caring for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias is estimated to cost the United States $226 billion in 2015, with one in five Medicare dollars spent on an Alzheimer's victim. Unless a cure is found, treatment costs are expected to grow to an estimated $1.1 trillion by 2050. In Mississippi, 12 percent of senior citizens

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