The Research Advocate April 2011

In This Issue of The Research Advocate

Download the entire April 2011 Research Advocate as a PDF.

Policy Update: New Budget Deal Cuts Research Funding

After a series of meetings between congressional leadership and President Barack Obama, a preliminary budget deal was reached April 8 and a government shutdown has been avoided. The deal extends for the remainder of FY11 and would cut $38.5 billion in discretionary spending from dozens of government agencies.

Several health research agencies are expected to be cut from FY10 levels: The National Institutes of Health would be subject to a 1% cut of about $260 million; the National Science Foundation would also be subject to a 1% cut of $53 million; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would received the largest cut-$748 million or 12%; and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality would be cut by 6% or $25 million. In addition to these cuts, all agencies are also subject to a 0.2% across-the-board cut, except for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The Food and Drug Administration, however, would receive a 4.5% increase of $107 million.

While these cuts are significant, they are not nearly as drastic as those proposed in H.R. 1, which passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.

The current budget deal has been passed by the House and will be voted on by the Senate on April 14 or 15. The bill is expected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by the president.

Advocacy & Action

NIH Funding At Risk: Contact Congress Today

The House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1-a continuing appropriations bill that includes unprecedented funding cuts to NIH, NSF, CDC, AHRQ and FDA. These cuts represent a major threat to the nation's health and competiveness. We need your help now more than ever to protect funding for medical research! Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY and explain to them how these cuts will impact your state, your community or your institution. Make sure they know where you and your community stand on medical research.

Seven Elected to Research!America's Board of Directors

Research!America members have elected seven new directors to serve on the Board of Directors.

The new directors include a Nobel laureate, two former Members of Congress and leaders from academia, industry and patient advocacy.

Nancy Brown is chief executive officer of the American Heart Association (AHA). Brown has served for several years in the national and regional offices of the AHA; prior to her current position, she was chief operating officer at the AHA's National Center.

The Honorable Mike Castle served Delaware in Congress as its at-large representative for nine terms and, earlier, as the state's deputy attorney general, lieutenant governor and two-time governor. Throughout his career, he has been a committed supporter of medical research.

Joseph Feczko, MD, is chairman of the board of directors for Stockholm-based Cardoz Pharmaceuticals. He previously served in senior leadership positions with GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer Inc. He retired in 2009 as Pfizer's senior vice president and chief medical officer.

Carol Greider, PhD, is a molecular biologist at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Greider discovered the enzyme telomerase in 1984; based on this work, she and two colleagues won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The Honorable Kweisi Mfume served Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms. He is currently the chief executive officer of the National Medical Association and was the former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Elizabeth Nabel, MD, is the president of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Prior to her current position, she served in multiple positions-including director-at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

Sudip Parikh, PhD, is vice president of AgriFood and vice president of health policy for the Battelle Memorial Institute. He previously worked for the Senate Appropriations Committee and with the National Institutes of Health.

Three board members-Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD; Jackie Lovelace Johnson; and Laing Rogers Sisto-were elected to serve new three-year terms.

National Cancer Act 40th Anniversary Activities

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which led to increased funding for cancer research and the development of the National Cancer Institute.

Former Congressman Paul G. Rogers, Research!America chair emeritus, played a crucial role in its passage.

In celebration of its anniversary, the President's Cancer Panel held a four-meeting series to address the future of cancer research and the acceleration of innovation in this area. The American Society of Preventive Oncology honored the anniversary at their annual meeting in March. The society's president, Electra D. Paskett, PhD, is a professor at The Ohio State University College of Public Health, a Research!America member.

Friends of Cancer Research, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology-all Research!America members-and the Association of American Cancer Institutes will hold a Capitol Hill day May 11 to showcase the work of the nation's cancer centers. Ellen Sigal, PhD, chair and founder of Friends of Cancer Research, is a Research!America board member.

Collins Dispels Myths about Translational Science Center

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, said in a recent webinar that the NIH's proposed National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is about streamlining the pipeline for translational science and working with the NIH's other centers and institutes.

The idea of NCATS arose from recommendations by the NIH's Scientific Management Review Board that the NIH realign its resources and form a new center to focus on translational science.

In the webinar, which was hosted by FasterCures, a Research!America member, Collins sought to reassure those who believe NCATS will compete with industry researchers.

"We are not turning NIH into a drug development company," he said. "This is an effort to try to identify projects and opportunities that complement what the private sector already does well-to facilitate streamlining the pipeline to a higher success rate, and to identify specific projects that need to be de-risked in order for the private sector to see them as economically viable. That's a challenge for rare and neglected diseases, where the market may not be very compelling."

OSTP Launches R&D Dashboard

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy launched a new online tool to help the public track the impacts of federal investment in research and development.

The R&D Dashboard provides a unique glimpse into federal investments in R&D at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. It will be expanded in the future to include additional information on federal R&D investments.

The dashboard presents data on federal investments in R&D at NIH and NSF over the past decade. Specifically, it compiles financial awards to research institutions and translates those inputs to outputs, such as publications and patents. The dashboard organizes investments by state, congressional district and research institution and allows users to sort by research topic within these levels. Visit http://rd-dashboard.nitrd.gov/.

HHS Updates its National Vaccine Plan

The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a new National Vaccine Plan to enhance coordination of the federal vaccine and immunization system. This is the first update to the original vaccine plan, which was created in 1994.

The goal of the plan is to ensure that all Americans can access the preventive benefits of vaccines. It serves as an all-encompassing guide to innovating the nation's vaccine activities. It includes strategies for addressing such issues as research and development, supply, financing, distribution, safety, global cooperation and informed decision-making among consumers and health care providers.

Member Spotlight: Wake Forest School of Medicine

Wake Forest School of Medicine and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center together make up one of the country's most respected medical schools. The school is home to-among other things-the Wake Forest University Translational Science Institute, which focuses on researching and teaching clinical and translational science, and a recently launched Office of Global Health.

The Wake Forest School of Medicine is on the rise: a continued building of the school's Translational Science Institute; a global health center with an increasing focus on research; and a 30-year old (and still growing) non-human primate colony. But William B. Applegate, MD, MPH, president of Wake Forest University Health Sciences and dean of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, is most pleased with the gains made in regenerative medicine. The school has been part of international efforts to use stem cells to regrow human bladders and, most recently, urethras, which aid those who have suffered trauma.

The Translational Science Institute is funded by a variety of revenue sources and helps coordinate research among departments and centers.

"We have significant pilot funds in that program to essentially stimulate new team science in areas where there has not been as much collaboration as before," Applegate said.

The school's Office of Global Health is building its research capacity and has relationships with schools around the world. The primate colony is also a source of pride for Applegate.

He added that Research!America's efforts to sustain research funding have been critical for Wake Forest and other research institutions.

"Research!America is one of the leading voices to explain to both the Congress and the public ... the value of human and animal research in terms of ever-improving, if you will, the health of human beings," he said. "I think Research!America is one of the voices that has most clearly articulated the great value equation that biomedical science provides humans in terms of future health."

President's Message

Spring's arrival should be about renewal and hope. Advocates for health research instead face discouragement and delay.

Those with short-term agendas may be denying our children's health and future by failing to invest in a robust approach to translate research into delivery and assure science as a keystone of our economic leadership. Certainly it is important to put the U.S. fiscal house in order, but as Research!America Chair John Porter said at our Advocacy Awards dinner, the course forward for this nation requires leadership that puts the full federal budget on the table as priorities are set; meanwhile, those determined to assure a healthy, economically vibrant future must speak out repeatedly, with one voice, so the case we champion on the public's behalf is undeniable.

Our Whitehead Awardee, Sen. Dick Durbin, took up Mr. Porter's refrain, calling for "no cuts that cost lives." Our Sackler Awardee, Nobelist Mike Bishop, said if he could do one thing differently, he would have put more time into advocacy for research.

We must move from clear rhetoric to determined action. It is time for research stakeholders to do three things: sign the petition to protect NIH funding (www.researchamerica.org/advocacy); urge your elected representatives to state their views on health and research via YourCongressYourHealth.org; make an appointment to visit your representative in your home district to talk about public and private jobs created by research, about health improved and productivity strengthened. Contact us for ideas and assistance!

Media Matters

Discretionary Spending Cuts to Impact Research

Research!America's chair, former congressman John Edward Porter, was quoted in a Bloomberg News article on U.S. leadership in science and innovation and the looming budget cuts. "America's economic destiny depends upon maintaining and enhancing our lead in technology, innovation, science and research," he said. "The cuts to NIH proposed by the House take us exactly in the wrong direction." The Economist ran Porter's quotes in an article about the House's proposed research spending cuts, and the article appeared in the online versions of The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian, Austin-American Statesman, The Wichita Eagle and The Muskegon Chronicle (MI).

President's FY12 Budget

Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America, was quoted in BNA's Medical Research Law & Policy Report on the president's FY12 budget proposal. Woolley said: "Research helps control health care costs, create quality American jobs and drive early-stage innovation on which the private sector can build Research!America polls show that Americans understand this and support increased research funding. We are pleased that the president has heard and heeded the voice of the public in his FY12 budget proposal."

Pharma's Revenue Challenges Impacting Rate of Drug Discovery

A New York Times article focused on declining revenues and the impact on research investment and the pace of drug discovery at pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Europe. The article cited several reasons for this trend, including expiring drug patents and pressures from insurers and governments to lower drug prices. Christopher Viehbacher, CEO of sanofi-aventis and a Research!America board member, was quoted saying that generic drugs are currently taking over the primary care market in the U.S. and that the European market poses similar challenges. NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, described new NIH efforts to help "feed the private sector" pipeline.

Public Sector Research and Drug Discovery

The New England Journal of Medicine published a new study by Ashley J. Stevens, PhD, director of the Office of Technology Transfer at Boston University, and colleagues on the role of public sector research in the applied research phase of drug discovery. They found that between 1970 and 2009, 153 new FDA-approved drugs and vaccines originated from public sector research, much more than previous studies had found.

Investing in Research in Illinois

Citing data from Research!America's online economic impact of research tool, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) issued a press release on the importance of medical research funding in FY11 for economic growth and job creation in Illinois. Durbin also mentioned the importance of maintaining research funding to train the next generation of American scientists.

Global Health R&D Advocacy

Research!America co-hosted a briefing, "The Polio Vaccine: A Dose of Prevention," with the Global Health Council and the United Nations Foundation in Washington, DC, on March 31. Besides the focus on the polio vaccine, the briefing showcased the impact of U.S. investment in global health research here at home and shared the progress and success of federal agencies and a range of global health partners.

Peg Willingham, of the UN Foundation's Global Vaccines Campaign, moderated the discussion. Panelists included David Bowen, PhD, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, John Sever, MD, PhD, of Rotary International's International PolioPlus Committee, and Winstone Zulu of AIDS-Free World.

Polio, which can cause lifelong paralysis and even death, can be prevented with an oral vaccine that costs only 50 cents to deliver per dose. The vaccine has saved an estimated $180 billion in treatment costs for the disease in the U.S. alone.

The event was the second in the series, "Securing a Healthier Future with
Vaccines," which aims to demonstrate the long-term benefits of vaccine research and development, both in economic impact and lives saved.

The Global Health Council is a Research!America member.

April 2011 Principal Partners