The National Institutes of Health spent more than 90% of its $27.17 billion FY 2003 budget on grants to support R&D activities in the United States. This was spread among nearly 2,900 institutions and morethan 52,000 awards.- Ken KostelSources: National Institutes of Health, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Applications and approvals for new molecular entities (NMEs) in the United States continue to fall ...... while it continues to dominate R&D spending and total pharmaceutical sales.- Ken Kostel

- Ken Kostel

The portion of the US budget dedicated to biodefense spending has proved difficult to track since 2001. Expenditures are spread out among several agencies and are often combined with defense and pre-paredness initiatives for chemical or nuclear threats. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the few agencies with a biodefense line-item, has seen that part of its budget grow dramatically over the past several years. In addition, the nation's network of Biosafety

As the European Union inches towards its goal of spending 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development, 10 new member states are set to join the EU in May that lag behind the rest of Europe in spending by a wide margin. Where some see an impediment to growth, others believe the untapped potential of Eastern Europe may be crucial to the EU's ability to compete globally in knowledge-based industries.- Ken Kostel