FLICKR, CHRIS POTTERIn March, President Donald Trump’s administration released its proposed 2018 budget, which included a significant cut to funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Now, an analysis from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that the reduction—which amounts to $7.2 billion, or 21 percent of the agency’s bolstered 2017 budget—could hamper researchers’ ability to develop novel, potentially life-saving drugs.
That conclusion was reached by looking at how NIH and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) budgets have affected drug development in the past. The researchers found that the vast majority of new drugs were supported by NIH funding early in development. The results were published this week (November 16) in Cell Chemical Biology.
Specifically, the new analysis found that 93 of the 100 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S. had relied on NIH support. Looking at all new drugs approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2016, the researchers calculated that 97 percent had received NIH funding at some point during their development.
“NIH funding is instrumental in the early research needed to develop FDA-approved medicines,” coauthor Michael Kinch, an associate vice chancellor ...
