Texas Senate advances bill to start a $3 billion dementia research fund

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The Texas Senate on Wednesday advanced to the House a bill that would create America's largest brain health research center.

Senate Bill 5, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would create the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Senate Joint Resolution 3, which would require voter approval if passed by the Legislature, would fund it with $3 billion in surplus revenue. This funding is intended to attract physicians, researchers, and experts in the field of dementia to Texas. This institute would research all brain diseases, not just dementia.

Under the bill, the institute would be governed by a board of physicians and scientists with expertise in dementia research. Grants could be awarded for projects addressing the causes, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of dementia patients, as well as new medicines and facilities to help treat patients. Following the initial $3 billion in general revenue, future appropriations into the institute would be capped at $300 million annually.

“I can’t think as a body, as a legislature, that we could make a wiser, more prudent, better investment for the people of Texas and future generations,” Huffman said from the Senate floor prior to the vote.

One of the institute's primary duties will be awarding grants. All grant proposals must undergo a peer review, and the oversight committee must approve final grant awards to ensure fairness in the grant-making process.

Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, during the discussion of the bill on Wednesday, shared that his father lived eight years with dementia before passing away last year, and it’s a disease he wouldn’t wish on anyone. He said that despite his personal experience, he didn’t believe funding a dementia center was the government’s role.

“My vote is not a vote of support. It’s just a vote of recognizing that we need to focus on other things as a government, and it concerns me as we add some of these on,” said Hancock, who joined Sen. Bob Hall, R-Galveston, in voting against the legislation.

Huffman responded by saying she understood his point, but she believes the fund is worthy of investment from the state’s surplus of dollars.

“There are people living today because of some of the research breakthroughs in cancer. If we can do the same thing with this and help prevention and research, it seems like it could be the best money we’re spending,” she said.

Government spending has become a hot topic in the state and the nation as President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to cut medical research funding.

In February, the National Institute of Health released a notice of an updated policy that would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars and place a 15% indirect cost rate on all new and existing grant awards received by research institutions.

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from cutting medical research after a litany of lawsuits, including one filed by 22 state attorneys general along with universities, hospitals, and research institutions nationwide to stop the cuts, saying they would endanger patients. Texas was not among the plaintiffs.

“While other research opportunities may diminish, the creation and funding of (the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas) will position Texas to be a leader in dementia-related research,” Huffman said in an emailed statement to The Texas Tribune on Thursday.

The dementia program is modeled after the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas which voters approved in 2009 with $3.7 billion and voters again approved in 2019 an additional $3 billion. The $6 billion cancer research institute is the largest cancer research organization in the country and the second largest worldwide.

The institute issues up to $300 million annually for cancer research and prevention projects, according to Kristen Doyle, CEO of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute. It has recruited 324 researchers to Texas; supported the establishment, expansion, or relocation of 74 companies to Texas; and has provided 10 million prevention services, reaching all Texas counties.

“I believe we can follow this success and position Texas as a national leader in combating dementia and related disorders, accelerating groundbreaking research and improving the lives of millions of Texans,” Huffman told fellow lawmakers.

In 2012, allegations arose that millions of taxpayer dollars were distributed in grants without proper peer review, briefly engulfing the cancer institute in scandal.

Huffman said lawmakers have learned lessons from creating the cancer research institute, which should make creating a dementia institute much smoother.

“Everyone who was around will admit that the (cancer institute) had a rocky start, but those problems were resolved with legislation and oversight, and all of that has been incorporated in this legislation,” she said. “We worked closely with the (cancer institute) as we wrote this bill and took suggestions from them so we can go full speed right off the starting gate.”

Doyle said the merit-based, peer-reviewed grant process is central to their national reputation for integrity and transparency in funding groundbreaking projects.

Huffman said that Texas already has the third-most dementia patients in the country, almost half a million, and last year, state Medicare costs for dementia care alone topped $4 billion.

“There is no better place than Texas to take on this challenge,” Huffman said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the research institute a top bill for the session. He says that Texas’ size and economic strength allow it to take on big projects like this.

“Texas, with our vast resources, has an opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of millions,” he said in a news release.

Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease, is the most common form of dementia, accounting for about 80% of cases, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Alzheimer’s symptoms — memory loss and the inability to perform simple tasks — tend to develop in the mid-to-late 60s and occur when clumps of abnormal proteins block the communication of brain cells. Symptoms can be mild at first and worsen over time.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that 459,000 Texans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, about 12% of the state’s population over the age of 65. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, this has cost the state approximately $24 billion in caregiver time.

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