Predictable and Sustainable Funding for NIH Will Drive Innovation and Progress. Research supported by NIH is ... The num
Predictable and Sustainable Funding for NIH Will Drive Innovation and Progress Research supported by NIH is essential for improving health, reducing human suffering, and protecting the nation against new and emerging health threats. Because of the scale, scope, and time involved, it is the kind of investment that private industry could not afford to undertake. Unfortunately, due to several years of flat funding and spending cuts enacted in 2011, the NIH budget is insufficient to fund all of the critical research that needs to be done. Analyses of data from the NIH web site conducted by FASEB demonstrate how difficult times have become: In constant dollars (adjusted for inflation), the FY 2012 budget and the President’s proposal for FY 2013 are $4 billion lower than the peak year (FY 2003) and at the lowest level since FY 2001 (Figure 1, NIH Appropriation in Current and Constant Dollars) The number of research project grants funded by NIH has declined every year since 2004 (Figure 2, Number of Research Project Grants) This trend is projected to continue in FY 2012 and FY 2013, when NIH will fund 3,100 fewer grants than in FY 2004 (Figure 2, Number of Research Project Grants) NIH made 8,765 competing (new and renewed) awards in FY 2011, more than 1,600 fewer than in FY 2003 (Figure 3, Number of Competing Awards) Success rates have fallen more than 14 percentage points in the past decade and are projected to decline even further in FY 2012 and 2013 (Figure 4, Success Rates) Additional information about NIH research funding may be found on the FASEB web site. NIH needs sustainable and predictable budget growth in order to continue to support scientific investigations that will improve the health of all Americans. Exciting new NIH initiatives are poised to accelerate our progress in the search for better treatments, and it would be tragic if we could not capitalize on the many opportunities before us. Without an increase in funding, however, NIH will have to sacrifice valuable lines of research in order to keep up with rising costs and new mandates. The analyses described above clearly demonstrate that we have lost ground. If the supplemental appropriations are considered, the decline is much greater. NIH reached a capacity of more than $35 billion in FY 2010-11. The high demand for stimulus funding, and the exceptional research that it yielded, illustrate that the capacity of the research system is at least $35 billion. To prevent further erosion of the nation’s capacity for biomedical research, FASEB recommends an appropriation of at least $32.0 billion for the National Institutes of Health in FY 2013 as the first step of a program of sustained growth that will keep pace with the increasing scientific opportunities and return to the demonstrated capacity of the research enterprise.
Figures Figure 1
Figure 2
NIH Appropriation in Current and Constant Dollars
Number of Research Project Grants
60,000
$40,000 $35,745 $36,209
52,536
$35,000
48,948
50,000 $31,009 $30,545 $30,767 $30,702 $30,702 $29,030$29,312 $28,495$28,461 $27,888
Total Number of Grants
$30,000 Dollars (Millions)
$27,067
$25,000
$23,296 $20,458
$20,000
$17,821 $15,629
$15,000 $11,928 $11,300
$10,000
$13,675 $12,741
$21,003 $20,863 $20,519 $19,588$19,249 $18,713 $18,567$18,797$18,545 $17,898$17,472 $16,994 $16,977
$15,280
$13,900
$12,547 $11,630$12,087 $11,300
With Supplemental Appropriation (ARRA) Current $ (Millions)
$5,000
45,874
40,000 35,424 36,441
34,436
35,59935,422 35,173 34,872 34,252
32,850
30,000
31,035 29,254 27,621
24,364 25,062
20,00021,680
22,221
26,221 23,024
25,683
26,953
27,995
28,869
29,626 29,970 29,549 29,123 28,729
27,901 27,410 27,559 26,862
24,310
RPG plus Supplemental Appropriation (ARRA) RPG Research Project Grants (RPG)
10,000
R01 Equivalent Grants
1995 Constant $ (Millions)
0
$0 1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Pres Budget
2013 Pres Budget
Figure 3
Figure 4
Number of Competing Awards (With Breakout of First-time R01) 20,000
Success Rates (Excluding ARRA) 35.0%
19,391
RPG plus Supplemental Appropriation (ARRA) RPG
18,000
32.4% 30.5%
16,805
Research Project Grants (RPG)
30.0%
32.0%
32.1% 31.2%
31.1% 32.0%
31.5%
30.1%
26.8%
R01 Equivalent Awards
30.2%
31.7%
30.9% 27.9%
16,000
30.6% 29.9% 25.5%
27.2%
25.0%25.9%
14,000
24.6%
10,000
10,393
8,000
8,556 7,389
6,0006,758
6,653
5,849
5,694
6,141
7,518 7,028
8,765 7,063
9,098
6,965
10,052
9,396
7,430 6,799
10,100 9,599
9,460
9,128
9,455 8,881
9,415
8,765
8,743
Success Rates
First-time R01 Equivalent Awards
12,000 Awards
37,401 37,270 36,812 37,285 36,656
34,613
20.0%
23.6%
23.0%
20.7% 21.3%
21.8%
22.7%
22.3%
22.2%
20.6% 20.0%
22.3%
20.6% 18.7% 17.7%
15.0% Research Project Grants (RPG)
6,991 6,463
6,195
6,037
6,456
6,116
5,924
6,217
10.0%
R01 Equivalent Awards
5,380
4,000
3 5.0%
2,000 1,421
1,364
1,483
1,506
1,561
1,596
1,580
1,578
1,683
1,531
1,459
1,365
1,596
1,684
1,794 1,731
1,445
0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Pres Budget
0.0% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
