Texas is preparing to launch its own moonshot program to combat Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the initiative as a major goal for the 2025 legislative session.
Patrick said the state-funded initiative will be called the Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT). The creation of such an initiative would make Texas a leading center for medical research on dementia, building on the model of a similar Texas program to combat cancer, the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
"Dementia, and especially Alzheimer's, touches so many families today," Patrick said in a statement. "It is a heartbreaking and devastating disease. Just as we are leading on cancer research, Texas can be a world leader in combatting Dementia, finding treatment, and, one day, a cure."
State Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston) will take the lead in crafting the legislation to create DPRIT. If lawmakers pass the bill, and voters approve a subsequent constitutional amendment, the state will fund DPRIT for at least a decade.
"Like CPRIT," Patrick said, "this investment will draw leading researchers and companies to Texas and require them to be based in Texas, leading to their further investment in our state."
Dr. Joseph Masdeu, director of the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist and professor of neurology at Cornell University, said it would be hard to overstate the importance of such an investment.
"In Texas, we have the highest prevalence of dementia in the country," Masdeu said. He noted that, while Texas does benefit from federal funding into dementia research, "There are projects that are going on relatively slowly and would be much more promptly done if we had this support."
Dr. Louise McCullough, chair of the Department of Neurology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, also said the initiative could make a tremendous difference in combating dementia in Texas and beyond.
"There's about 400,000 Texans right now suffering from Alzheimer's Disease," McCullough said, "That's just the tip of the iceberg of what we know about all causes of dementia. So, the number is much, much bigger than just those with Alzheimer's, which already costs Texans $20 billion per year."
In addition to Alzheimer's, McCullough said, the investment would help with research into other forms of dementia, such as vascular dementia and traumatic brain injuries.
"This is what our patients need," she said. "Our patients need to tackle this problem from prevention all the way to treatment. Preventing dementia, it's not quite as sexy as coming up with a brand-new drug that's going to be like a magic pill, but we know that doesn't work. So, there's a lot of work that we need to do, and this would really help spark that work."