image: This is the flow of NIH-funding from Bethesda, MD to US congressional districts associated with drugs approved 2010-2016. view more
Credit: PNAS
Researchers report the contribution of NIH funding to recent new drug development. The impact of public sector funding on drug development is not well understood, partly because this funding is focused on basic research, the translational impact of which is difficult to quantify. Fred Ledley and colleagues examined National Institutes of Health (NIH) support for published research associated with the 210 new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2016. The authors identified more than 2 million scientific publications related to these drugs or to the drugs' biological targets, 29% of which were associated with NIH-funded projects. NIH-funded publications were associated with every new drug, and involved more than 200,000 total fiscal years of funding and more than $100 billion in project costs. More than 90% of these publications concerned the biological targets of the drugs, rather than the drugs themselves, and represent basic research. Eighty-four of the 210 new drugs were first-in-class and accounted for more than $64 billion in NIH funding. The results suggest that a substantial fraction of the NIH budget from 2000-2016 contributed directly or indirectly to the new drugs approved during 2010-2016, and that reduced public research funding might delay future drug development, according to the authors.
Article #17-15368: "Contribution of NIH funding to new drug approvals 2010-2016," by Ekaterina Galkina Cleary, Jennifer M. Beierlein, Navleen Surjit Khanuja, Laura M. McNamee, and Fred D. Ledley.
MEDIA CONTACT: Joanna Howarth, Bentley University, Waltham, MA; tel: 781-891-2725, 508-942-5166; e-mail: <jhowarth@bentley.edu>
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