WASHINGTON - Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has succeeded in winning a funding increase for Alzheimer's research in the proposed budget for federal health research.
The Senate Appropriations Committee completed work on the health research budget before going on break this month. Collins says the funds she pushed for would increase funding currently devoted to Alzheimer's research by 50 percent.
"It's an additional $300 million that would be added to the $600 million," Collins says. "That's still not where the experts say we should be, but it is a major step forward."
Collins says Alzheimer's is now the nation's most costly disease and more research into its cause and prevention is needed. She says as the United States population grows older the number of cases will certainly grow.
Collins says she's hopeful the larger amount for research will survive the budget negotiations between the House and Senate next month as the overall federal budget is hammered out.
