Testimony on NIH Funding

Submitted to the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies.

The American Physiological Society (APS) thanks the subcommittee for its ongoing support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $2 billion funding boost you provided in FY 2019, following on those provided in FY 2016-2018 have helped NIH address critical health problems and emerging challenges through cutting-edge research. These much-needed increases have put the NIH on a path toward sustainable budget growth. The APS urges you to sustain this vital effort by providing the NIH with at least $41.6 billion in FY 2020.

Breakthroughs in basic and translational research are the foundation for new drugs and therapies that help patients, fuel our economy, and provide jobs. Federal investment in research is essential because the NIH is the primary funding source for this discovery research through its competitive grants program. The private sector commercializes new treatments, but it depends upon federally-funded discovery research to point way to where the next breakthrough is likely to be found. This system of public-private partnership has been critical to U.S. leadership in the biomedical sciences. According to a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, all 210 new molecular entities approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2016 were associated with NIH-supported research. Importantly, 84 of those new drugs involved a newly-discovered mechanism of action or biological target in the body.

Federal research dollars also have a significant impact at the local level: Approximately 83% of NIH’s budget goes to some 30,000 researchers working in colleges, universities, and medical centers across the country. They in turn use their NIH grant funds to train students, pay research and administrative staff, purchase supplies and equipment, and cover other costs associated with their research. According to an updated 2019 report, NIH research funding in FY 2018 supported more than 430,000 jobs and generated nearly $74 billion in total economic activity nationwide.

The increases Congress has provided NIH over the last four years are helping to correct the devastating effects of sequestration and budgets that declined in real terms due to the effects of inflation. To keep the agency on a strong path forward, we urge you to provide meaningful and predictable annual budget increases that keep up with the rate of inflation and take full advantage of the incredible opportunities for discovery before us.

As specified in the 21^st Century Cures Act, NIH continues to pursue a number of important initiatives including the Cancer Moonshot, the All of Us program (formerly the precision medicine initiative), and the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. These programs focus resources on specific areas of scientific opportunity are ripe for innovation, but this is only possible because they build upon decades of discovery research. To advance our knowledge and lay the groundwork for similar opportunities for innovation in the future, NIH must continue to invest in creative investigator-initiated research.

Over the past several decades, NIH has used a merit-based peer review system to identify and fund the best research proposals. To date, NIH has supported the work of 156 Nobel Laureates, including the 2018 winners of the Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine prizes. Thanks to NIH research, Americans can expect to live longer and healthier lives. NIH also plays an important role in training the next generation of scientists by supporting trainees with individual fellowships and institutional grants as they complete their graduate degrees and seek the post-doctoral training necessary to pursue successful independent research careers.

Today significant challenges loom before us: The opioid epidemic has become a national public health crisis. An aging population will bring an increase in diseases that contribute to death and disability such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis, and cancer. New and emerging infectious diseases will require us to be nimble in investing our resources. If we are to continue to advance new and innovative ways to address these and other challenges on the horizon—including developing the workforce necessary to do so—the NIH will need stable and predictable funding increases in future years.

The APS joins the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in urging that NIH be provided with no less than $41.6 billion in FY 2020. This represents a $2.5 billion increase over FY 2019.

The APS is a nonprofit devoted to fostering education, scientific research and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences. The Society was founded in 1887 with 28 members and now has over 10,000 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in physiology, medicine and/or other health professions.