We are excited to see an increase in funding for Down syndrome research! In December, President Trump signed a spending package which includes $60 million for Down syndrome research in FY2020 through the National Institutes of Health’s Investigation of Co-Occurring Conditions Across the Lifespan to Understand Down Syndrome (INCLUDE) Project.
In 2018, the NIH made an initial investment of $22 million to build capacity and plan for the INCLUDE project. In 2019, additional funding of $35 million was made available by Congress to fully launch INCLUDE. This year’s $60M INCLUDE funding brings the total funding for Down syndrome research to an estimated $90 million for the fiscal year 2020, up from approximately $72 million in fiscal year 2019 and $60 million in fiscal year 2018.
This additional increase is wonderful news for our families as it supports more research towards providing our loved ones with Down syndrome with new resources, treatment and diagnostic options in the future. Thank you to the dedicated Team at the NIH and to everyone involved in making this happen.