Bipartisan Group of Senators and Representatives Introduce Bill to Battle Brain-Relat...( National Neurotechnology Initiative ...),Health

National Neurotechnology Initiative Act seeks to accelerate development of

new treatments for brain and nervous system ailments

SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A bipartisan team of prominent members of both houses of Congress introduced today the National Neurotechnology Initiative (NNTI) Act, a bill designed to foster new discoveries and accelerate the development of new and safer treatments for the one in three Americans living with a brain-related illness, injury or disease.

Championing the NNTI, Senators Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representatives Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI 1st) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL 18th) have called upon Congress to reverse the growing economic burden generated by brain-related illness, which has reached $1.3 trillion per year in the U.S. due to healthcare costs and lost income.

"The sheer numbers speak for themselves: There are 100 million Americans suffering from a brain-related illness, with an enormous economic burden that continues to grow as the population ages," said Zack Lynch, Executive Director of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization. "For a modest investment, Congress has the opportunity to streamline research efforts, accelerate the development of new treatments, promote innovation by small businesses and have a meaningful impact on the lives of those suffering from devastating diseases and injuries."

Designed to increase the speed at which discoveries reach the market, the NNTI employs targeted increases in funding to improve Federal research coordination and ease bottlenecks that inhibit the development of treatments for brain-related illnesses. The bill accomplishes these goals with less than 4 percent of the total Federal neuroscience research budget -- $200 million -- and reflects a more balanced disease-cost to research-dollars-expended ratio.

"With nearly one in three Americans suffering from some kind of ne
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