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Bioscience Briefing

For info about biomedical funding, animal research and other bioscience issues, click here.

Science Policy Announcements

For the latest news from the APS Science Policy click here.

Resource Book Now Available

Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.

APS Science Policy Update

September 18, 2006

In this issue:

• NEJM article on the value of medical spending
• A rocky transition to electronic grant submission anticipated
• House Energy and Commerce Committee continues to review NIH ethics policy
• FASEB Washington Update
• NIH Extramural Nexus – news of impending Roadmap RFI

The value of biomedical research

When advocating for federal funding for biomedical research, the argument is often made that research leads to medical treatments that improve and prolong human life. Members of the scientific and medical community see this as an inherently good thing, but there are questions about whether the development of expensive new treatments contributes to the rapidly rising cost of health care. A recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine examines the increase in life expectancy observed over the past 40 years, along with the increase in money spent on health care per person each year.

This economic analysis shows that the increase in medical spending is still outweighed by the economic benefits of a longer life. Whether or not this trend holds true in the future is dependant on a number of factors including the cost of future health care treatments, which is impossible to predict. The study also did not take into account increased quality of life, which further adds to the value of medical spending.

To read the entire article, go to:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/9/920

Transition to electronic grant submission

An article in last week’s Washington Post describes the how the Department of Health and Human Services has changed contractors for the grants.gov system. This change comes less than six months before the anticipated changeover to electronic submission of R01s at NIH.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201445.html?referrer=emailarticle

Energy and Commerce Committee Examines NIH Ethics Policy

As part of an ongoing inquiry into conflict of interest violations at NIH, the House Energy and Commerce committee held a hearing last week to examine the agency’s ethics policies. While the scope of the hearing was narrow, members of the committee use this as an example of the need for general reform at NIH.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/913/1

FASEB Washington Update

To see the FASEB Office of Science Policy’ latest Washington Update, go to:
http://opa.faseb.org/pages/Washingtonupdate/sept1506/

NIH Extramural Nexus

The latest issue of the NIH Extramural Nexus addresses a number of topics including the age at which new investigators are typically awarded their first R01, the NIH public access policy and an upcoming RFI that will ask for comments on the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/partners/0906Nexus.htm

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