August 12, 2013

“The Costs of Flat Funding for Biomedical Research,” an issue brief prepared by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in collaboration with TAG, examines the declining purchasing value of public funding for health research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the impact this has on public health, scientific progress, US productivity, and US science leadership.

Flat funding for the NIH over the last decade equates to a substantial decline in U.S. investment in biomedical research when adjusted for inflation, eroding America’s longstanding position as the preeminent driver of medical innovation and discovery. Reduced purchasing power at the NIH results in fewer opportunities for talented young scientists, impedes exploration of new approaches to preventing, treating and curing life-threatening diseases and conditions, and ripples out across multiple sectors of the U.S. economy. Continued disinvestment in the NIH will seriously undermine America’s long-term competitiveness and could lead to the U.S. relinquishing its global leadership in biomedical research.