Successful First Steps to Securing Funding for Our Programs!

Good news!  We are on track to get funding from Congress this year for two programs important to the Parkinson's community:  the Department of Defense Parkinson's research program and the new Cures Acceleration Network.

On July 27, the House Defense appropriations subcommittee provided $25 million for the Department of Defense Parkinson's research program.  This is the first step in securing funds for the Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Parkinson's Research (NETPR) program - the only Parkinson's-specific grant program in the federal government. Learn More.
 
This successful first step is thanks to your advocacy efforts - our advocates sent more than 1,500 messages to Congress last month supporting NETPR through the PAN Action Alert system (this does not count personal e-mails and phone calls)!  In this difficult fiscal climate, maintaining last year's funding level of $25 million in the House subcommittee bill is a solid success.
 
Also in recent weeks, both House and Senate appropriations committees included $50 million for the new Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) - a new program at the National Institutes of Health to help move basic scientific research through the pipeline faster into promising new drugs and therapies for patients.  PAN has been leading the effort to secure funding for the new program.  Learn More.
 
Your continued support for the NETPR program and CAN is vital during the month of August.  Members of Congress will be working at home so it's a perfect time to educate them about programs important to us!  To learn more about taking action in August, click here.