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Viewpoint: Research threatened by funding cuts by Patrick Beatty, MD, PhD, Director of the BMT Program at the University of Utah. Dr. Beatty is on the Public Information and Governmental Affairs Committee of the American Society of Hematology. Virtually every major breakthrough in cancer treatment and bone marrow transplantation has come as a result of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Last year, however, prospects for adequately funding the NIH looked dim. The House and Senate Budget Committees recommended cutting NIH’s budget by 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Vigorous lobbying by patients, physicians and other health care professionals enabled the NIH to survive the budget axe—at least for this year. On January 6, 1996, President Clinton signed a Joint Resolution of Congress, increasing NIH’s budget 5.7 percent in 1996. Unfortunately, even with a 5.7 percent increase in funding, the NIH will only be able to support 30 percent of the most promising research proposals presented to it by investigators at the best universities, medical schools and non-profit research institutions in the US. Hundreds of research proposals that could lead to more cures or an improved quality of life for patients with cancer and blood disorders will go unfunded. What kinds of breakthroughs have come as a result of NIH funded research? Last year, Dr. Alan Flake and colleagues published a study on in utero bone marrow transplantation. A father’s healthy bone marrow was injected into the abdominal cavity of a fetus diagnosed with X-Linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (X-SCID). X-SCID is a genetic disorder that is always fatal by age 2. However, the child who received a bone marrow transplant from his father while still in the mother’s womb is now thriving, growing normally, and experiencing none of the infections typical of babies with X-SCID. Increased NIH funding in 1994 for research on in utero transplantation for genetic diseases helped make this medical advance possible. Similarly, early research into growth factors—drugs that allow bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients to recover sooner after transplant—was initially funded by the NIH. Transplant patients today experience shorter hospital stays and a lower risk of infection as a result of this research. The point of these examples is not to show off what science can do, but to demonstrate that thousands of patients and their families have directly benefited from biomedical research funded by the NIH. If advances in cancer therapy and treatment for other blood disorders are to continue, NIH funding must be increased. Biomedical research dodged the budget-cutting bullet in 1995, but that victory may be short-lived. An ongoing, grassroots lobbying effort is needed so that NIH continues to receive sufficient federal funds to support research into cures and prevention of disease. Although the American Society of Hematology (ASH) is encouraging its physician members to speak to legislators about the need for increased NIH funding, the big lesson of 1995 was that patients and families who’ve directly benefited by NIH funded research are the most effective lobbyists. What will make the difference in the future is the line of defense we install today.
You can become a citizen advocate for NIH funding by doing two things. First, write or phone your Congressperson and Senators today. Tell them you support additional funding for NIH so that more patients can be cured of their disease. If you, a family member or friend has been a direct beneficiary of NIH-funded research, eg., if you’ve undergone a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, explain that to your legislator. Second, join an ongoing grassroots effort to protect NIH funding. Fill out and mail in the coupon on page 3, and you will be notified when critical legislation affecting NIH funding is pending before Congress. A phone call to your legislators at that time could literally be worth millions of dollars in research funding. |
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