ALR Public Policy

ALR Fact Sheet for Congressional Members and Staffers

Since 2004, the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) has successfully advocated for $5-million in federal funding for lupus research.

The ALR asks Members of Congress to support our request for increased Department of Defense funding for lupus research.

The ALR was founded in 1999, and is currently chaired, by Robert Wood Johnson IV, a member of the founding family of Johnson & Johnson, a "first family" of American health issues. Click here for ALR's Board of Directors.

ALR's Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of the leading minds in the lupus research community.

As the world's largest private funder of lupus research, ALR advocates for increased federal funding for lupus research. The ALR provides 'venture capital' funds for researchers to gather translational data to apply for larger grants, often through federal funding agencies.

In 2004, the ALR was successful in in its efforts to have lupus included in the list of diseases funded under the Department of Defense (DOD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. This is the first time that lupus has been included as one of the 23 scientific topic areas covered by this $50-million competitive grant program. This effort has equalled an additional $5-million to lupus research. For more information on the currently-funded lupus research programs, please click here.

Facts on Lupus:

Lupus hits hardest one of our nation's most medically-underserved populations.

While the disease also affects men and children, 90% of all those diagnosed are women in their childbearing years.

Women of African-American descent are two-thirds more likely to be diagnosed with lupus. Also particularly vulnerable are women of Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander descent.

Lupus costs the nation over $100 billion a year in direct and indirect medical costs.

The number of Americans currently affected by lupus is estimated at 1.4 million.

*All statistics from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.