Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health Committee on Energy
and Commerce United States House of Representatives:
The Role of Biomedical Research in the Economic Stimulus
Statement of
Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D.
Acting Director
National Institutes of Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
For Release on
Delivery
Expected at 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Good morning, Chairman Pallone and Members of the Subcommittee.
I am Dr. Raynard Kington, the Acting Director of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH). It is a pleasure to testify before you today on
the economic impact of NIH funding. My testimony is intended to
provide you information about NIH funding, not to request additional
resources above and beyond the President’s FY 2009 budget.
With a long history of success in scientific discovery and the
best peer review system in the world, we at NIH are the proud stewards
of federal funds supporting biomedical research. Our impact on
public health is well known, exemplified by substantial reductions
in mortality from such threats as heart disease, infectious disease,
and cancer. Fueled by new advancements such as the sequencing of
the human genome, we are poised to enter an era of personalized
medicine that has the potential to predict, preempt, and prevent
disease.
Our mission is, and must remain, dedicated to seeking scientific
knowledge to improve the health of all citizens. NIH is a grant
making and contracting agency, providing awards to research institutions.
NIH awards go primarily to non-profit organizations in the private
sector. These awards support conducting research that lead to new
technologies and therapies. In turn, discoveries may lead to patents
and new businesses producing additional economic benefits over
the long term. NIH grants are dispersed widely, to all 50 States
and covering 90 percent of congressional districts.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, NIH provided 47,000 grants worth $20.4
billion. These grants support salaries, equipment, and infrastructure.
We estimate NIH grant funding supports 300,000 jobs in the United
States, approximately seven positions for each grant. To determine
the long-term effect of NIH-supported research, we reviewed the
outcome of 31,144 grants awarded in FY 2000. The outcomes included
30,477 invention disclosures, 17,341 non-provisional patent applications
and 6,909 patents. Seventeen percent of all drugs approved by the
Food and Drug Administration from 1982 to 2006 cited NIH patents
as a factor. The biotechnology industry that was spawned in the
United States in the late 1970s played an important role in the
revolution in molecular biology that occurred as a result of Federal
funding for brilliant new and continuing investigators. The biotechnology
industry has been a major driver of the United States economy over
the past 3 decades.
The FY 2009 Budget includes over $3.5 billion for nearly 9,800
new grants. In total, the FY 2009 Budget supports more than 38,000
grants. Enactment of the FY 2009 Budget would enable NIH to focus
on priority research areas, including: clinical trials involving
genomics research in multiple disease areas; translational research
in heart disease and stroke; AIDS vaccine research; asthma research;
health disparities; hearing loss; mental illness; addiction; kidney
disease; advances in imaging; vaccines; and cancer. These critical
areas of research, among others, could be immediately funded and
expanded for the benefit of the health of the people here and around
the world. The development of new infrastructures for emerging
technologies involving genomics, proteomics, nanotechnology, and
systems biology are required to speed new discoveries leading to
the next generation of therapeutics. The investment in new research
infrastructures will stimulate the acquisition of reagents and
supplies necessary to advance these new fields of biomedical science.
Thus, NIH highlights an important issue to consider in regard
to the current economic crisis: the potential effectiveness of
medical research on the economy. Thank you, and I would be happy
to answer any questions you may have.
This page was last reviewed on
February 25, 2009
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