In This Issue
From Capitol Hill
Options
Dwindle for FY08 Appropriations
From Research!America
Kennedy, Schwarzenegger Named 2008 Advocacy Award
Recipients
Research!America's
Web Site Has A New Look
Highlighting
Public and Private Research
In the News
Media
Matters: Research in the News
Regular Features
President's
Message
Member
Spotlight: The CFIDS Association of America
Options Dwindle for FY08 Appropriations
Congress has approved a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 14. Options are dwindling as Congress and the Bush Administration continue to battle over FY08 appropriations.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) announced Congress would draft a "split-the-difference" omnibus appropriations bill, but the president has said he will only sign bills that meet his original budget numbers. Should a current plan to write an omnibus appropriations bill fail, Congress might draft a year-long CR, as it did for FY07, with some targeted increases.
All these considerations will be under discussion in the next few weeks. Research!America and our partners are working hard to make sure federal support for medical research is protected.
Kennedy, Schwarzenegger Named 2008 Advocacy Award Recipients
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger were recently named Research!America 2008 Advocacy Award
recipients.
Kennedy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will receive our Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy. He is honored for his longtime, consistent support of federal policies to advance health research, including championing National Institutes of Health funding increases. He was an original co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act and the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007. He also has sponsored key legislation on issues including health disparities, health information technology and HIV/AIDS.
Schwarzenegger is being recognized with our Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion. He was nominated by the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, a Research!America member, for his leadership on Proposition 71. In 2004, this proposition enabled the establishment of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine with an authorization of up to $3 billion over 10 years. More recently, Schwarzenegger authorized $150 million in loans to CIRM, quadrupling the amount of money available in the state to begin research on stem cells.
Our 2008 Advocacy Award recipients will be honored on March 18 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC. Our other previously announced 2008 Advocacy Award recipients are:
- Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership: William H. Foege, MD, MPH, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director; senior fellow, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and presidential distinguished professor, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
- Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award: Pat Furlong, founding president and chief executive officer, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.
- Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award; Benefactor: Hogan & Hartson LLP: amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, representated by Mathilde Krim, PhD, founding chairman. Kenneth Cole serves as amfAR's chair.
- Builders of Science Award: Richard A. Lerner, MD, president, The Scripps Research Institute.
Research!America's Web Site Has a New Look!
We have revamped the content and look of www.researchamerica.org. It's still a one-stop resource for medical, health and scientific research advocacy but now has a cleaner look and more user-friendly organization.
We are also pleased to introduce our blog, through which we will regularly add commentary and context to research issues, at www.researchamerica.org/blog.
Helping drive traffic to the site is Google AdWords. Thanks to a generous grant from Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the search engine giant, Research!America is receiving free text ads on relevant Google search results pages.
Highlighting Public and Private Research
Poll: Optimism, Concerns about Research Progress
Research!America and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America hosted a forum on public and private sector research, "Transforming Health: Fulfilling the Promise of Research," in November in Washington, DC.
"Never underestimate the power of innovation," urged keynote speaker Elias Zerhouni, MD, director, National Institutes of Health. He described momentum in discovering genes linked to major diseases but cautioned that unless we speed the pace of research through new approaches and greater efficiency, we will not see advances in the practice of medicine.
PhRMA President and CEO Billy Tauzin remarked, "Clearly the future looks bright, but it is essential that we preserve an environment that fosters innovation and research. And treatment advances are of little use if those who need them cannot access them."
Presenting highlights of a new poll, Research!America's Mary Woolley noted that nearly three-quarters of Americans expect breakthroughs in the next decade in treatments for diabetes, cancer and heart disease, yet a majority say we are not making enough progress in medical research.
Just 57% say health-related research has helped them or someone close to them. Woolley said, "We see a disconnect between expectations for medical research and appreciating its real-life benefits that help Americans every day."
Former journalist Meryl Comer shared her compelling story as a caregiver for two Alzheimer's patients. She noted industry's substantial investment in Alzheimer's research and called for stronger advocacy to speed a cure for this disease.
Two panels composed of leaders from the private sector, government, academia and patient communities discussed how to gain the most from our investment in research and overcome barriers to integrating new knowledge into better health. For more poll results and a transcript, visit www.innovation.org.
Media Matters
Global Health Research in the Public Eye
The Indianapolis Star quoted Research!America's 2006 U.S. Investment in Global Health report: "The United States invested $9.3 billion last year in global health research. This amount is only 8% of the $116 billion spent on all health research in the U.S. in 2006."
A (Bloomington, IN) Herald Times editorial and (Durham, NC) Herald Sun op-ed by local Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassadors discussed the need for global health research funding.
In the Herald Sun, Margaret Bentley, PhD, associate dean for global health, University of North Carolina, and Michael Merson, MD, director, Global Health Institute, Duke University, explain how interconnected North Carolina's health and global health are: "Health problems on one continent can and do become problems worldwide. A case of Avian flu in Indonesia today could cause a statewide health crisis by next week."
The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide fellowships to U.S. editors to improve media coverage of global health and development issues.
Open Access to NIH Research
Had the House and Senate voted to override President Bush's veto of the 2008 LHHS appropriations bill, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health would have been required to publish the results of their research in open access journals, explained Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss. The proposed model would make taxpayer-funded research articles available free of charge within a year after publication. Open-access journals charge fees to scientists rather than subscribers; such fees would be drawn from scientists' NIH grants. Currently, there is a two-year-old policy encouraging but not requiring NIH-funded scientists to publish in open-access journals.
R&D Pipeline Concerns
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, "Attack of the Superbugs," former FDA official Scott Gottlieb, MD, now with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, argues for investing more research to develop tools and drugs to detect and treat resistant bacterial infections. He writes, "As we make progress in fields like cancer, we are taking a U-turn on bacteria" and "only 13 new antibiotics are in development inside big drug companies, compared to an average of 60 more than a decade ago." According to an analysis by Dow Jones, the Food and Drug Administration has been approving gradually fewer medications since 2005, with a projected all-time low of 18 medications in 2007.
Is there a Shortage of U.S. Scientists?
The Chronicle of Higher Education dismisses the notion that the United States lacks scientists and engineers. Testimony in recent House subcommittee hearings indicates the problem is not so much a shortage as a "disconnect between demand and supply." The number of science graduate students exceeds the number of permanent research jobs, according to Michael Teitelbaum, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
President's Message
The news is not good as we approach year end. Despite the energetic work of many research advocates, there were not, in the end, enough votes in the House to override the president's veto of the LHHS appropriations bill. A renewed continuing resolution will keep the NIH, CDC, AHRQ and a myriad of other agencies and programs open for business-but not adequately equipped to fulfill the public's expectations for better health and economic prosperity based on the achievements of our innovative research community.
We need champions now more than ever! In our recently announced advocacy award winners, we have champions whom we admire and who inspire us, even in challenging times. We are proud to announce Sen. Edward Kennedy and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been selected to receive 2008 awards. I urge you to join us March 18 to salute all our awardees.
I have a goal for our 2009 awards: that we will make a special award to our new president for making research for health a signature campaign issue, a highlight of the inaugural address and a high priority for the administration. Can that happen? Absolutely! But only if many advocates for research act NOW. Join us in taking the case for research to the presidential candidates; urge them all to go on the record with their support for research.
The board and my colleagues at Research!America join me in wishing you and yours a healthy holiday season. We feel fortunate to work with you throughout the year and thank you most sincerely for your commitment to research for health.
Member Spotlight: The CFIDS Association of America
The CFIDS Association of America is the
largest non-government supporter of research into the causes of and treatments for
CFS.
Through its work that includes an ever-expanding worldwide network of basic science researchers, clinicians on the front line of patient care, and organizations and federal agencies with CFS programs, the association is helping to propel CFS research forward at an unprecedented pace.
"Federal funding-and the credibility for CFS that federal support conveys-is absolutely essential to making progress in diagnostics and therapeutics for this complex illness that affects at least one million Americans," said K. Kimberly McCleary, president and CEO. "Private sources of support are also vital to progress, and we work to attract greater investment from all sectors."
The association's current research model helps investigators prepare to compete in the often challenging federal funding environment.
"To date, we've supported $4.8 million in research, most of it directed to pilot studies that have helped investigators develop and refine hypotheses and collect preliminary data," McCleary said.
With a strong presence on Capitol Hill, the association has developed a reputation for being a vigilant watchdog regarding the use of federal funds for CFS. McCleary and her staff closely monitor all phases of the research process, from study design to implementation to data publication.
"Although CFS is more widely understood to be a valid medical condition than it was even a decade ago, we constantly work to replace outdated perceptions with newer information about its severity and complexity," she said.
In partnership with Research!America, the association recently produced a CFS fact sheet as part of our Investment in Research Saves Lives and Money series.
"Our partnership with Research!America provides for a new level of visibility for CFS-particularly with academic and policy audiences-than we have been able to achieve on our own," McCleary said.
"Research!America is on the front lines of making research a higher visibility issue for all Americans, lawmakers and policymakers," she added. "Expanding our nation's support for the total research ‘pie‘ is crucial, otherwise, all of our slices will continue to shrink."
The association also reaches out to the public-particularly those whose lives have been directly affected by CFS-and to health care professionals. Such outreach has grown over the past year in conjunction with the CDC-supported CFS public awareness campaign.
Campaign strategies include public service announcements and a traveling photo exhibit, "The Faces of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." The exhibit has been in 22 public venues nationwide, with more planned for 2008. For more, see www.cfids.org.
Research!America members can download the entire December Research Advocate
using their member log in. E-mail kfuller@researchamerica.org if you need your log-in information.