On Feb. 3, 2026, the U.S. Congress approved new federal funding for ALS research for Fiscal Year 2026, totaling $315 million, the highest level of funding ever for ALS research. We are deeply grateful to the ALS community, including people living with ALS, families, clinicians, researchers, and advocates across the country, whose collective actions made this possible. Every phone call, meeting, and letter to congressional leaders truly mattered.
Together, alongside the Les Turner ALS Foundation and 29 other ALS organizations, these efforts helped drive bipartisan action over the past year. Thank you to our Congressional champions for listening to the ALS community and standing with us.
This funding will advance research to better understand ALS, translate discoveries into new treatments, improve clinical trials, and strengthen collaboration across the research community. Sustained federal investment is critical to keeping this work moving forward and bringing us closer to better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
FY 2026 ALS funding includes:
- $90 million for Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS (ACT for ALS) at the National Institutes of Health (a $15 million increase over FY25)
- $30 million for Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) ALS research (new funding)
- $145 million for National Institutes of Health ALS research
- $40 million for Department of Defense ALS research through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
- $10 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National ALS Registry
This funding will strengthen innovation in research labs at the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine and across the country, and expand access to clinical research.
We will keep working alongside the ALS community to advocate for additional research funding in FY27 and invite you to be part of our FY27 advocacy efforts.
New to our advocacy program? Start here and help drive critical progress in ALS research, care, and support.
