Squeaky wheel gets the research dollars

Where does research money go when it isn’t put toward epilepsy? Obviously in these trying economic times those dollars are spread thin. But I thought it would be interesting to look at which areas are benefitting most. NIH released a report in February providing a detailed account of which diseases and conditions would receive how many millions of dollars in research funding.

To give some perspective on the dollar amounts, I have gathered prevalence and new cases data on several diseases and conditions that are worth comparing to epilepsy.

Research dollars in millions
Epilepsy $135
Prevalence: 3 million in US (50 million worldwide)
New Cases: 200,000 new cases each year in US

Autism $143
Prevalence: 1 in 110 children age 8 (no total number has been confirmed)
New Cases: 40,000 new cases each year in US

Stroke $347
Prevalence: 5.8 million in US
New Cases: 500,000 new cases each year in US

Alzheimers $480
Prevalence: 5.3 million in US
New Cases: 500,000 new cases each year in US

Breast Cancer $765
Prevalence: 2.6 million in US
New Cases: 200,000 new cases

You will notice that the squeaky wheel is not as squeaky as we thought. Maybe its time to allocate some time, effort and dollars toward epilepsy.

Sources for prevalence information: NINDS, CDC, NIH
Source for funding information: NIH Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC) published February 1, 2010.

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

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