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WASHINGTON, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Today, retired U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Former Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich presented testimony to a special hearing of the U.S. Senate Special
Committee on Aging, convened by Chairman Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
specifically to hear updates on the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This
was Justice O’Connor’s first public statement about her commitment to fighting
this disease that has struck her husband, John, and over 5 million other
Americans.

Justice O’Connor is a member of the Alzheimer’s Study Group, an
independent and bipartisan alliance of national leaders. The Study Group was
launched in 2007 with the bipartisan support of the Congressional Task Force
on Alzheimer’s Disease to develop a coordinated national plan to fight the
disease. Speaker Gingrich, who co-chairs the Alzheimer’s Study Group with
former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, outlined the Group’s work in his testimony.

“I became an Alzheimer’s caregiver when my husband, John, was diagnosed
with Alzheimer’s in 1990 and I have a first-hand understanding and a profound
empathy for the millions of other caregiving families around the nation,” said
Justice O’Connor in her written testimony. “Alzheimer’s is a tragic disease
for families, but it is also fast becoming a national disease — a national
health crisis. That is why I am here today as a member of the Alzheimer’s
Study Group, which represents an important step in helping the United States
meet a bold national goal — one that seeks nothing less than to eradicate
Alzheimer’s disease.”

According to Speaker Gingrich, “With almost a half a million Americans
developing this terrible, incurable disease each year, $150 billion in annual
costs to the federal government alone, and all the trend lines growing worse
each day, I think we can all agree that Alzheimer’s is a national crisis. If
we want real change in the devastating trajectory of this disease, we need
real change in our strategies to overcome it.”

The Alzheimer’s Study Group has identified five specific issues that will
form the core of its strategic recommendations. Because the Group’s approach
is to integrate various perspectives, it will announce recommendations in the
form of a coordinated national plan in early 2009. The Group has created a
task force to develop recommendations for each of these issues:

— Encouraging Collaboration among Researchers. Scientific researchers
from academia, government, and industry need the tools and incentives
to scan the growing body of Alzheimer’s research for relevant
breakthroughs and more efficiently collaborate
on solutions, regardless of organizational boundaries.

— Improving Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials. Alzheimer’s clinical trials
must be better supported and coordinated to reduce delays, improve
efficiency, and ultimately allow the faster identification of new
promising treatments.

— ‘Rapid Learning’ from Large Electronic Health Datasets. Cutting edge
tools and methods of “data mining” have the potential to revolutionize
how we prevent, treat and care for Alzheimer’s through a 21st century
version of the Framingham Heart Study.

— Integrating a Community-Based Care Model. Innovative approaches to
care that better support patients and families and help manage costs
must be developed from best case practices, and made available to all
Americans.

— Providing Better Information to Policymakers. Government leaders must
be given meaningful and timely information on the mounting impact and
potential responses to Alzheimer’s if they hope to assess progress,
set funding priorities, and exercise strategic oversight.

“We need to move now to reinvent and reinforce our fight against
Alzheimer’s. For the baby boom generation, this is certainly one of our last
chances,” explained Gingrich. “We have many of the pieces already but we have
to break down organizational barriers that prevent us from putting them
together. Expect updates from the Alzheimer’s Study Group in coming months as
we move toward a bold action-oriented plan next year. We have the nation’s
future to protect.”

About the Alzheimer’s Study Group

The Alzheimer’s Study Group is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit
organization created for the sole purpose of creating the National Alzheimer’s
Strategic Plan to overcome America’s mounting Alzheimer’s crisis.
Established on July 11, 2007, the ASG began its work with an assessment of the
country’s current efforts and is now developing strategic recommendations to
accelerate progress toward overcoming this disease. The work of the ASG has
been funded by the Alzheimer’s Association, the Dwyer family, Pfizer-Eisai,
the McCance Foundation, the Vradenburg Foundation, and Wyeth. The ASG has
also received an in-kind contribution of substantial project management and
research support from Booz Allen Hamilton. The effort is being administered
and managed through the Center for Health Transformation. For more
information, visit the Alzheimer’s Study Group website at
www.alzstudygroup.org .

SOURCE The Alzheimer’s Study Group