National Plan for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Gets an Update From HHS

HHS announced an update Thursday to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias that includes investment in projects focused on earlier detection and intervention.

“Under President Trump, HHS is shifting the national strategy toward prevention, earlier detection, and faster development of better diagnostics and treatments,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a news release.

The updated plan places emphasis on reducing dementia risk across the lifespan. It replaces six historical goals with four goals that include promoting dementia risk reduction, accelerating ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s and dementia, adding dementia care components, and strengthening caregiver support.

Several federal initiatives support the plan, including a collective investment of up to $48.8 million in projects announced by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

Up to $41 million from ARPA-H will go to Mass General Brigham researchers to lead a multi-institutional Alzheimer’s disease platform trial to test drugs approved for other conditions that could be repurposed to treat Alzheimer’s, as well as supplements, plant-derived products, and other compounds. ARPA-H will also award $2.75 million to support Alzheimer’s research at the University of California San Francisco, to complement existing efforts focused on sleep-related risks and early protein dysfunction.

Also on Thursday, the FDA launched an Alzheimer’s Prevention Accelerator, part of a new agency program called the Neuroscience Advancement and Innovation Nexus (NAIN), to foster new approaches to prevent or delay cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s.

In addition, the Administration for Community Living will expand brain health resources and training for elder justice professionals, including lawyers and social workers, who work to prevent the abuse and financial exploitation of older adults, HHS said.

Other initiatives will expand dementia training and screening, develop behavioral health and crisis response resources for people with cognitive decline, strengthen public health approaches to dementia, study diagnostic delays and the economic burden of dementia, review evidence on prevention, and test a lifestyle intervention for people with mild cognitive impairment.