II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2067 

To establish EUREKA Prize Competitions to accelerate discovery and development of disease-modifying, preventive, or curative treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, to encourage efforts to enhance 

detection and diagnosis of such diseases, or to enhance the quality 

and efficiency of care of individuals with such diseases. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. KING, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. AYOTTE, 

Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. BARRASSO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish EUREKA Prize Competitions to accelerate discovery and development of disease-modifying, preventive, 

or curative treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, to encourage efforts to enhance detection 

and diagnosis of such diseases, or to enhance the quality 

and efficiency of care of individuals with such diseases. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Useful Re3 search Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer’s Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘EUREKA Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL ALZHEIMER’S AND 

6 DEMENTIA RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGH 

7 PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 

8 Part B of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 409K. NATIONAL ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA RE12 SEARCH BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE COMPETI13 TIONS. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH, in con15 sultation with the Director of the National Science Foun16 dation, the Director of the Defense Advanced Research 

17 Projects Agency, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, 

18 the Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research 

19 Projects Activity, and the heads of any other appropriate 

20 Federal agencies that have experience in prize competi21 tions, shall establish prize competitions. The competitions 

22 shall be designed to achieve high-priority breakthroughs 

23 to achieve the national goals of preventing and treating 

24 Alzheimer’s disease by 2025, enhancing quality and effi25 ciency of care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, and 


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1 expanding supports for individuals with Alzheimer’s dis2 ease and the family caregivers of such individuals. 

3 ‘‘(b) EUREKA PRIZE COMPETITIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH, in 

5 consultation with the Director of the National 

6 Science Foundation, the Director of the Defense Ad7 vanced Research Projects Agency, the Commissioner 

8 of Food and Drugs, the Director of the Intelligence 

9 Advanced Research Projects Activity, and the heads 

10 of any other appropriate Federal agencies that have 

11 experience in prize competitions, and when appro12 priate, in coordination with private organizations, 

13 shall establish EUREKA prize competitions to accel14 erate breakthroughs in the area of Alzheimer’s dis15 ease and dementia that lead to the attainment of 

16 critical milestones set forth in the competitions. The 

17 competitions may be in any of the following areas: 

18 ‘‘(A) Identification and validation of non19 invasive biomarkers to inform therapeutic tar20 geting. 

21 ‘‘(B) Identification of scalable, non22 invasive means of early detection and diagnosis 

23 of Alzheimer’s disease. 

24 ‘‘(C) Repurposing of a drug approved by 

25 the Food and Drug Administration as a disVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Sep 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067

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1 ease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s dis2 ease. 

3 ‘‘(D) Innovations, including technological 

4 or telemedicine, to improve care of individuals 

5 with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and to 

6 ease the burden of caregiving for such individ7 uals, including cost burdens. 

8 ‘‘(E) Breakthroughs to overcome a signifi9 cant scientific barrier to understanding the pa10 thology of Alzheimer’s disease. 

11 ‘‘(F) Other Alzheimer’s disease and de12 mentia needs, as appropriate and as determined 

13 by the Advisory Council described in subsection 

14 (c). 

15 ‘‘(G) Other areas, as the Director of NIH 

16 determines appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—The Director of NIH shall 

18 publish each competition that is offered in the Fed19 eral Register, including the specific award amounts 

20 offered, applicable deadlines, and other eligibility cri21 teria. 

22 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to win a 

23 prize under this section, an individual or private or24 ganization— 


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1 ‘‘(A) shall have registered to participate in 

2 the competition under any rules promulgated by 

3 the Director of NIH under paragraph (2); 

4 ‘‘(B) shall have complied with all the re5 quirements under this section; 

6 ‘‘(C) in the case of a private organization, 

7 shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary 

8 place of business in the United States, and in 

9 the case of an individual, whether participating 

10 singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or per11 manent resident of the United States, unless 

12 the Director of NIH waives such requirement 

13 with respect to an organization or individual; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(D) may not be a Federal entity or Fed16 eral employee acting within the scope of their 

17 employment. 

18 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Not later than 1 year 

19 after the date of enactment of the EUREKA Act, the Di20 rector of NIH shall convene an Advisory Council of non21 governmental experts in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia 

22 to devise development of EUREKA prize competitions 

23 under subsection (b). The council shall be comprised of 

24 8 members, including— 


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1 ‘‘(1) 2 experts from private organizations with 

2 expertise in managing multi-faceted prize competi3 tions; 

4 ‘‘(2) 2 experts in Alzheimer’s disease and de5 mentia biomedical research; 

6 ‘‘(3) 2 experts in Alzheimer’s disease and de7 mentia therapy development, including individuals 

8 with expertise in designing and executing human 

9 clinical trials; and 

10 ‘‘(4) 2 individuals from the caregiver or patient 

11 advocacy community. 

12 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION OF SUBMISSIONS.—The Director 

13 of NIH, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall 

14 appoint a panel of judges, from within or outside the Na15 tional Institutes of Health, including from the private sec16 tor, to review and evaluate all submissions for EUREKA 

17 competitions. The judging panel shall forward rec18 ommendations to the Director of NIH and the Advisory 

19 Council. The Director of NIH shall evaluate all submis20 sions recommended by the judging panel and select sub21 missions for which the prize shall be awarded. In reviewing 

22 submissions and selecting awardees, the Director of NIH 

23 may seek technical assistance and expertise from other 

24 Federal agencies or external sources, as appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITIONS.—The Di2 rector of NIH may enter into an agreement with a private 

3 organization to administer prize competitions, subject to 

4 the provisions of this section. 

5 ‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.—Sub6 sections (e), (h), (i), and (j) of section 24 of the Stevenson7 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 shall apply to 

8 this section. In applying such subsection (h) to this sec9 tion, the reference to subsection (g) shall be deemed to 

10 be a reference to subsection (b) of this section. Paragraphs 

11 (2) and (3) of subsection (k) of section 24 of the Steven12 son-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 shall apply 

13 to the appointment and functioning of the panel of judges 

14 described in subsection (d). 

15 ‘‘(g) EXEMPTION FROM FACA.—The Federal Advi16 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to 

17 the advisory council established under subsection (c) or 

18 the judging panel appointed under subsection (d). 

19 ‘‘(h) PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS.—In this section, the 

20 term ‘private organizations’ means nongovernmental enti21 ties, including nonprofit and for-profit entities. 

22 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Support for a prize com24 petition under this section, including financial sup25 port for the design and administration of a prize 


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1 competition or monetary contributions or gifts of 

2 property for a prize purse, may consist of Federal 

3 appropriated funds, funds provided by private orga4 nizations, and individuals. The Director of NIH may 

5 solicit and accept funds from other Federal agencies, 

6 from private organizations, and individuals to sup7 port such prize competitions. The Director of NIH 

8 may not give any special consideration to any indi9 vidual or private organization in return for a dona10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 To carry out this section, there are authorized to be 

13 appropriated not more than $10,000,000, for each 

14 of fiscal years 2017 through 2021. Any funds appro15 priated under this paragraph shall remain available 

16 until September 30, 2025. 

17 ‘‘(3) CLARIFICATION.—Any funds made avail18 able through this section shall supplement, not sup19 plant, other funding made available for research on 

20 Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.’’. 

Æ 


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