Klein Lab | Your Support

Your Support

private funding for alzheimer's disease research is urgently needed

why the urgency? what it means to us support options acknowledgements

Support Options

Your financial support of our important research provides much needed coverage of our operating budget, including salaries, equipment and supplies. Contributions in any amount are, of course, gladly accepted.

Level	Annual Gift	Benefits
Contributor	up to $5,000	listing in annual progress report
Donor	$5,000 - 50,000	scheduled lab tour and presentation by Dr. Klein
Sponsor	$50,000 - 150,000	named published study sponsor
Benefactor	$150,000 +	named sponsor of Alzheimer's Research fellow

Note: At a given level, benefits at lower levels also apply. We're open to your suggestions.

What Your Support Means To Us

Our affiliation with Northwestern University does not finance our operating budget. We alone are responsible for funding our own salaries, scientific instrumentation and supplies.

These expenses are growing significantly every year, as you can imagine. Recent rises in inflation only magnify our financial challenges.

Pharmaceutical companies do not fund basic research at universities. They focus their attention on clinical trials and their own drug research.

What this implies for us is clear. Our need for on-going, sustainable contribution resources has never been greater.

Why the Urgency?

A postage stamp is not enough

The numbers tell a compelling story:

Cause of Death	2000	2008	% change
Heart disease	710,760	616,828	-13
Breast cancer	42,300	41,026	-3
Prostate cancer	31,078	28,472	-8
Stroke	167,661	134,148	-20
Alzheimer’s	49,558	82,435	+66

Yet commitment to Alzheimer's research spending has remained FLAT at just 1/2% of total disease-related spending and is predicted to remain so.

Source: Alzheimer's Association Report: 2012 Facts & Figures

Research Spending Tells Another Story	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008*	2009*	% chg 04-09
Spending on Alzheimer's research ($M)	633	656	643	645	644	644	2%
Number of diagnosed Alzheimer's patients (M)	4.0	4.5	4.7	5.0	5.2	5.5	38%
Research $ per patient	$ 158	$ 146	$ 137	$ 129	$ 124	$ 118	-25%
Deaths attributable to Alzheimer's*	65,829	71,696	73,000

* estimates

Bottom line

Research spending per patient is declining as the number of those diagnosed is rapidly increasing.

Hope for early diagnosis and successful treatment lies in an increasing level of support from the private sector.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for having received generous financial support from these sources: