NIH Director: Next 'Cure for Cancer' Lost to Sequester

cp418

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/811189?src=wnl_edit_specol&uac=101636HJ

NIH Director: Next 'Cure for Cancer' Lost to Sequester

Billions of dollars in research funding and thousands of health-related jobs have been lost to the sequester, putting the nation's healthcare system at risk, said panelists speaking at a health forum last week.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, said his institute has lost $1.7 billion in federal funding since the start of sequestration and stands to lose another $600 million on October 1.

http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2013/09/23/NIH-director-Sequester-may-cost-us-a-cancer-cure

 

 

Beesie

"According to Collins, NIH lost $1.7 billion in federal funding to date from sequestration, and it stands to lose another $600 million on Oct. 1."People are demoralized," Collins said at the forum, adding that the now-unfunded research projects "could have been the next cure for cancer or the next Nobel Prize. But we'll never know.""

Wow. You mean with all the billions spent by the NIH up until now (their annual budget for just 2012 alone was $31 billion), it was this next $2.3B that was going to go to projects that would deliver the cure for cancer?? So if budgets are reallocated and the NIH recovers this 2.3B, Mr. Collins can promise us that the NIH will find the cure for cancer?

I understand Mr. Collin's frustration with the budget cuts but what an absolutely irresponsible, stupid thing for him to say.

jenrio

NIH does more than breast cancer, more than cancers and more than infectious diseases, and a lot of research is basic research. Apparently there's a sense that more breakthroughs are coming in the pipeline (in the last few years). So the sequester is BAD.

But we need absolutely more accountability and less fluff in the lets-prevent-needle-in-the-haystack-causes-of-cancer type of research. NIH needs to adapt to the new fiscal reality and STILL shoot for nothing less than the cure for all cancers.