June 30, 1999
Parkinson's Money Doesn't Add Up, Group Says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Parkinson's disease activists accused the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Tuesday of failing to spend money
allocated for research into the disease.
They said an investigation of the budget at the NIH showed that of every
$4 allegedly spent on Parkinson's by the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), $1, or 25 percent, is spent
on research that will not benefit patients with Parkinson's.
``Put simply, the numbers just don't add up and we'd like to know why,''
Parkinson's Action Network president
Joan Samuelson said in a statement.
The group and four Democratic members of Congress -- Sen. Paul Wellstone
of Minnesota, and Reps. Lane
Evans of Illinois, Carolyn Maloney of New York and Mark Udall of
Colorado -- sent a letter to NIH director Dr.
Harold Varmus asking for an explanation.
They also demanded that Varmus ensure the NIH spend the full allocated
$100 million for Parkinson's research.
Parkinson's disease is a progressive an incurable brain disease that
affects between 500,000 and 1 million
Americans.
An NIH spokeswoman said the NINDS tried to help the Parkinson's Action
Network analyze spending.
``Dr. (Gerald) Fischbach, director of the NINDS, and some of the senior
staff have reviewed current awards in depth,'' she said in a telephone
interview.
``We provided this analysis to the network earlier this year and we
would welcome further discussions with them. But at this time we don't
have sufficient detail regarding their latest criticisms.''
But, she added, the NIH felt it had shown a strong commitment to
fighting Parkinson's.
The NIH both conducts its own research and issues grants for academic
and other scientists to study disease as well. Some of the money is
spent directly studying a disease and drugs or other treatments, while
some is also spent on basic science aimed at better understanding how
the body works.
Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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