Contribution of NIH Funding to New Drug Approvals 2010-2016

Ekaterina Galkina Cleary, Jennifer M. Beierlein, Navleen Surjit Khanuja, Laura M. McNamee, and Fred D. Ledley, Proc Natl Acad Sci published ahead of print February 12, 2018.

Recently a manuscript by Cleary et al at Bentley University pointed to the crucial role government had in supporting drug development during the period of 2010-2016. A comprehensive statistical analysis of over 2 million publications showed that every one of 210 new drugs or their 151 known biological targets, approved by FDA in the period of 2010-2016, was associated with NIH-funded research. The funding totaled in $100 billion, presenting ∼20 % of the NIH budget over this period. More than90% of that research was basic. Further, authors reported that government contribution for 84 first-in-class drugs associated with 77 molecular targets is as high as $64 billion. The report was the first to show that NIH investment into drug development is higher than originally thought, and points to the risks associated with the reduction in NIH funding. (Prepared by Ines Batinic-Haberle, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA)

Click here to read the full article.