The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to reduce the burden of neurological disease through research and by improving treatment and enhancing preventive measures. NINDS has contributed substantially to the modern understanding and treatment of neurological disorders.
Few expenditures have paid off more than federal support of the NIH and NINDS. A recent comprehensive review of all phase III clinical trials supported by the NINDS finds that, estimated conservatively, the economic benefit in the U.S. from just eight of these trials exceeded $15 billion over the course of 10 years. The study also found that new discoveries from the trials were responsible for an estimated additional 470,000 healthy years of life. These programs prove their worth every day.
NINDS-supported research has led to the identification of more than 100 genes associated with neurological diseases. Therapeutic strategies based on gene discoveries that are already moving into human clinical testing include ones for ALS, Huntington's disease, ataxias, and muscular dystrophy.
Other accomplishments that are a direct result of NIH research on neurologic conditions include:
Limited federal appropriations in the past decade have not kept pace with medical inflation, which has severely impaired the NIH’s ability to sustain previous advances. And competition for NIH dollars is as fierce as it has even been. One example is dollars going towards aging research, which includes research for Alzheimer's Disease. About 5.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, with studies suggesting health and nursing home expenditures costs more than $170 billion a year, with much of it paid by Medicare and Medicaid.
But even with recent funding issues, the NIH continues to streamline and improve research efforts. Examples include the completion of Phase I of the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center that houses neuroscientists from eleven NIH Institutes and Centers that have intramural neuroscience programs. However, for this effort to reach its full potential, Phase II must be completed.
The Academy has developed an advocacy toolkit (to the right) to help you advocate on this important issue.