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The Obama administration has said it will devote $50 million to fund Alzheimer’s research this year, and an additional $80 million in 2013.

The funding, which was announced Tuesday, is part of the administration’s goal to identify a treatment for the disease by 2025.

Experts say the cash outlays will help boost the National Institutes of Health’s efforts to develop a treatment and better identify those at risk for developing the disease. They add that even with this allocation, Alzheimer’s researchers still receive considerably less than researchers who study cancer and heart disease.

Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, characterizes Alzheimer’s as “the public health crisis of this century,” Reuters reported. Experts estimate that 13-16 million Americans are expected to have Alzheimer’s by 2050, costing $1 trillion in medical and nursing home expenditures.