June 19, 2015
WASHINGTON, June 19, 2015 – United for Medical Research and 74 other research, life sciences industry, and patient advocacy organizations today offered their strong support of the National Institute of Health funding provisions included in the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6). In a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Diana DeGette, Ranking Member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, the organizations said:
“The work of our research institutions and members, as well as progress in the fight against the diseases we care greatly about, depends on steady, robust funding from NIH. As you well know, as a result of flat funding, NIH’s purchasing power has eroded over the past decade resulting in only one-in-seven grants being funded and countless lost opportunities for discovery and cures. H.R. 6 would help reverse this trend by increasing NIH’s annual authorization by approximately $1.5 billion for each of three years and creating a new mandatory Innovation Fund of $2 billion per year to boost biomedical research above discretionary levels for the next five years. As long as the Innovation Fund supplements and does not replace regular NIH appropriations, this would be a tremendous step in the right direction.”
The letter further praises the efforts of the lawmakers in developing the bipartisan legislation and encourages other Members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill, which will “help ensure the United States remains the world’s medical innovation leader.”
The letter and list of signing organizations can be found here.