In a recent op-ed published in Science Progress, Clyde Yancy (President of the American Heart Association), Edward Miller (Dean of the Medical Faculty and CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine) and Greg Lucier (CEO of Life Technologies) touted the importance of making a robust, long-term investment in NIH research.  

The op-ed came on the eve of the 1-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and speaks of some of the benefits of investing in NIH research.  These benefits include: driving American innovation, contributing to America’s economic progress and providing better, longer lives for Americans. 

As Yancy, Miller and Lucier wrote, “All this adds up to a vibrant national bio-economic system that grows and flourishes with the right starter funding and seed money from NIH. We have only begun to tap the potential of NIH-funded research as an economic growth engine. It is a catalyst for even further growth that should not be overlooked.”

The full article is pasted below.  Please click here to view on Science Progress’ site. 

Investing in Recovery and Discovery

President’s Budget and ARRA Support a Healthy Economy and Citizenry

By Clyde Yancy, Edward D. Miller and Greg Lucier

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Against the backdrop of our economic concerns, and on the eve of the anniversary of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s passage, President Obama has made a compelling case in his 2011 budget proposal for continued federal investments that deliver both immediate and long-term returns for the well-being of the American people. Investing in biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health is just such an investment.

Granted, biomedical science is not the most obvious answer on most people’s minds when it comes to our economic woes. And certainly, it is not the only solution. But far too often, it is overlooked as a major source of American innovation, economic progress, and perhaps most importantly, better and longer lives for our fellow citizens.

NIH funding directly and indirectly contributes to good jobs and is a proven engine of economic growth. Each year, biomedical funding through the NIH directly supports 325,000 good-paying jobs in research institutions in all fifty states and the U.S. territories, with a positive economic impact rippling far beyond the labs themselves. The Recovery Act will have created or saved roughly 50,000 jobs, as well. But the impact of biomedical investment goes far beyond the lab.

Each research facility runs like a small business, hiring junior staff and purchasing space, supplies tools, and equipment—not to mention the communities they help support. This directly contributes to new business for the companies around the country that supply these resources. In fact, it has been estimated that every $1 of NIH funding results in more than $2 in additional business activity and economic output.

Some of the nation’s largest employers—companies in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries—also seize upon NIH-funded discoveries to produce the next generation of treatments and cures. A recent biotechnology industry poll of its members showed that 50 percent of respondents said their companies were founded on such licensed ideas and technologies.

All this adds up to a vibrant national bio-economic system that grows and flourishes with the right starter funding and seed money from NIH. We have only begun to tap the potential of NIH-funded research as an economic growth engine. It is a catalyst for even further growth that should not be overlooked.

But NIH funding is also at the center of a game-changing movement: the revolution in biomedical science that promises to transform the scale and scope of new treatments and cures in the decades ahead. Using newly gained knowledge about biological structures and functions, scientists now have the opportunity to combat disease in unimagined ways. They no longer have to be reactive—merely describing the symptoms of a disease, applying the treatments at their disposal and watching to see what works.

Instead, they are applying the knowledge gained through decades of arduous scientific study to zero in on a disease, its triggers, and crucial steps in its development. Using discoveries and new technologies made in just the last decade—like the mapping of the human genome—scientists can now understand the molecular drivers of disease and more importantly, how to affect them. As the president pointed out in his budget announcement earlier this month, that means there is potential for cancer treatments that target the disease while leaving healthy cells unharmed; or new treatments that rewire the brain after a stroke, allowing patients to reclaim their bodies.

Combined with the increasingly rapid evolution of sophisticated biotechnology and information technology tools, this revolution in biomedical science means there can be a much shorter distance and time between basic discovery and new treatments. And patients will be the greatest beneficiaries.

We will witness a transformational shift from one-size-fits all treatments that don’t always work to tailored treatments that meet the unique needs of very different patient populations, ensuring efficient and effective care. And that means higher quality health care, with less waste and at less cost—a win for all.

This week will mark the one-year anniversary of the 2009 Recovery Act, which infused more than $10 billion into the biomedical research community through the NIH. We applaud the president on continuing the consistency of his commitment after ARRA. The kind of transformations we’re talking about—in health and the economy—can only come to full fruition if funding remains relatively consistent.

Science cannot progress in cycles of boom or bust, but rather with predictable and robust financial commitments. The right choice is to make a wise, long-term investment in NIH research. It’s an investment with strong economic returns and priceless value: better health for our families, neighbors, and friends.

Clyde Yancy is President of the American Heart Association. Edward D. Miller is the Dean of the Medical Faculty and CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine. Greg Lucier is the CEO of Life Technologies.

 The American Heart Association, Johns Hopkins, and Life Technologies are all members of United for Medical Research.

United for Medical Research (UMR) applauds the roughly 3% percent increase the President has proposed in the FY2011 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  An increase of such an amount in this challenging budget environment is a true testament to the President’s ongoing commitment to science and biomedical research.  Robust funding for the world’s leading source of biomedical funding drives better health and a stronger economy.

Each year, NIH funding directly supports 325,000 jobs in U.S. research facilities in all fifty states and the U.S. territories, and indirectly supports thousands of additional jobs in companies that supply and support research labs and research employees.   NIH funded research is also a main source of the discoveries that some of the nation’s most significant employers – the biotech and pharmaceutical industries – build upon to produce the next generation of treatments and cures. 

NIH supported research has produced a revolution in biomedical science.   Scientists and clinicians are now fighting disease using newly gained knowledge about biological structures and functions.  Combined with the increasingly rapid evolution of new technologies supporting and accelerating scientists’ work, scientific progress is shrinking the average time between basic discovery and new treatments, and enabling higher quality health care and less waste.

Today’s budget announcement is a promising continuation of the President’s commitment to this important field.   But more can be done to  ensure the nation is able to full reap the benefits of this historic opportunity in biomedical science.    In the months and years ahead, UMR will continue to make the case for strong funding for the NIH to ensure we deliver on that promise for our national economy and countless patients who count on the results of biomedical research.

In a recent interview with Reuters, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said that the agency will turn its attention this upcoming year to how investment in biomedical research impacts clinical science around the country.

The NIH is the single largest source of biomedical research funding in the world, and throughout its history, it has been the catalyst for academic, clinical, and private work in the field. 

According to Dr. Collins, reinforcing how this research pays off for patients will energize the research enterprise.

Read the full article here.

A new UMR report documents how Recovery Act funding of medical research through the NIH is creating and preserving jobs, laying the foundation for industry growth, and helping to reduce long-term health care costs. Investing in Recovery and Discovery illustrates these benefits through real-life stories of research scientists and their Recovery Act-funded work.

According to Dr. Steve Fluharty, Vice Provost for Research at the University of Pennsylvania, “the impact of NIH funding goes beyond the lab and into the companies that supply many of the 325,000 NIH-funded researchers across the country with the tools, technology and resources they need. Further, NIH grantees generate many of the discoveries the nation’s most significant employers – the biotech and pharmaceutical industries – build upon to create the next generation of treatments and cures.”

At the same time the funding is forging new areas of science, many of which could not have been pursued just 10 years ago, and others which could have been neglected without ARRA.  “We now have the unique opportunity to explore exciting new fields of science that may fundamentally impact our understanding of diseases, and help to tailor treatments with more precision to address the unique needs of very different patients,”says Dr. Clyde Yancy, President of the American Heart Association. “The ARRA infusion was more than a stimulus; it has been a catalyst that now provides the opportunity to jumpstart the pace of scientific discovery and ultimately to effect major advances in the quality of health for the American population.”

To learn more about how NIH funding through the Recovery Act is at work across the country in the service of better health and a healthier economy, visit here.  And to read and download the full report, visit here.

This week UMR released a detailed report on how Recovery Act funding of medical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is at work across the country in the service of better health and a healthier economy.

Investing in Recovery and Discovery documents how the $10.5 billion infusion in 2009 and 2010 in biomedical innovation is creating jobs, fueling industry growth, and helping reduce long-term health care costs.

The report illustrates these benefits of the Recovery Act funding through real-life stories of scientists and their  work.  It also notes that many such scientific and economic advancements could be slowed or neglected if funding were to fall back to pre-Recovery Act levels in 2011 and beyond. 

As Janet Lambert of UMR’s Executive Board states, “the stimulus infusion is demonstrating that reinvesting in innovative biomedical ideas through the NIH can help the nation achieve better health and a stronger economy.  How much we commit to NIH over time in large measure will determine our success.” 

To download the full report, visit here.  To learn more, visit here.

In Time magazine’s cover story this week, John Cloud explores the potential of epigenetics.

The article highlights the past and current biomedical research projects pushing this important issue in biology forward, and concludes with the statement that “the age of epigenetics has arrived.”

Researchers in the epigenetics field study changes in gene activity that get passed down to at least one successive generation but are not associated with DNA. They investigate how lifestyle and the environment change the way our genes are expressed, and how the medical community might be able to use these facts to its fight disease.

Included in the article, Cloud cites breakthrough research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that has provided the foundation for additional research in the field.  In September 2008, the NIH launched a five-year epigenomics initiative entitled the Roadmap Epigenomics Program to conduct research on how epigenetic processes could lead to more effective ways to prevent and treat disease.

Thanks to the funding and the foundation of research on epigenetics, Researchers at the Southern California’s Salk Institute are performing cutting-edge research to help the cause.  And in October 2009, Salk researchers announced the first mapping of the human epigenome.

According to Linda Birnham at NIH, this research and subsequent paper “will help us better understand how a diseased cell differs from a normal cell, which will enhance our understanding of the pathways of the various diseases.”

Important epigenetics research continues around the country in this field.  For a full list of funded research projects, visit here.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) rang in 2010 with exciting new opportunities for biomedical researchers.  On December 28, the NIH announced new three-year grants made possible through last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

According to the NIH, the grants fall under a program entitled “NIH Director’s Opportunity for Research in Five Thematic Areas” and will be awarded to researchers proposing to develop and implement research innovations in one or more of the following five areas:

• Genomics and other high throughput technologies
• Translating basic science discoveries into new and better treatments
• Using science to enable health care reform
• Focusing on global health
• Reinvigorating the biomedical research community

True to the intent of the Recovery Act, the NIH is seeking proposals for research that will have a high short-term impact and spur growth and investment in biomedical research, public health, and health care.

To read the full announcement, click here.

In June 2009 the California Healthcare Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers released a report, The National Institutes of Health: Fueling Healthcare Innovation in California, urging legislators to support increased funding for the National Institutes of Health.

The report called NIH “the backbone of the biomedical industry” in California, which employs more than 267,000 people in high wage jobs.

According to the report:

Without a sustained commitment of funding, scientists, academicians and leaders in the biomedical industry in California profiled in the report fear the biomedical ecosystem in California, made up of universities, research institutions and industry, will lose its capacity to produce the next generation of inventions to treat and cure disease.

Today’s medical advances in cancer, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular and infectious diseases are the products of basic scientific research that took place decades ago, largely funded by governmental grants from NIH, said David Gollaher, Ph.D., California Healthcare Institute’s president and chief executive officer.

The U.S. has to make a commitment to provide sustained funding to NIH so that the next generation of innovations that will improve public health come to fruition, or we risk not only America’s competitiveness, but global health.

You can download the full report here.

On July 8, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives will begin consideration of the appropriations bill for the FY 2010 budget for the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Contol, National Science Foundation and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

You can contact your Member of Congress through the Research!America web site.

Or better yet, write or call your Representative’s local office.