House Approves Parkinson's Research Funding

U.S. House of Representatives Approves $16 Million for Parkinson's Research Program

On Thursday, July 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Department of Defense (DoD) budget that included $16 million for the Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Parkinson's Research (NETPR) program. While the Senate has yet to act on the FY 2013 DoD budget, the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN) is thrilled that the House of Representatives has taken the first step to ensure this crucial program is funded in FY 2013.

The NETPR program is a national, dual-use, peer-reviewed granting program that examines how to best protect our military personnel from toxic substances, head injury, and other known contributors to Parkinson's disease. Since 1997, the NETPR program has funded more than $340 million of Parkinson's research. It is the only Parkinson's-specific granting program in the federal government and yields breakthroughs that benefit the nearly 80,000 veterans and between 500,000 and 1.5 million Americans living with Parkinson's.

PAN will be following the final FY 2013 budgetary discussions closely to ensure the NETPR program is funded in FY 2013.