translational research, more specifically reverse translational
research where research begins with clinical observation. Whether or
not additional ME and CFS research will be funded is not known.
Last-minute wins for US science
Bill tops up health, energy and translational-science spending.
Ivan Semeniuk& Susan Young
21 December 2011
A year-end push by the US Congress to pass a $915-billion spending
bill has delivered on a key initiative proposed by Francis Collins,
director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In addition to funding the NIH at nearly $30.7 billion for the 2012
fiscal year, the bill dissolves the National Center for Research
Resources (NCRR) and allocates a large portion of its budget =97 roughly
45% =97 to the creation of a National Center for Advancing Translational
Sciences (NCATS). It is the biggest organizational change at the
biomedical agency in decades.
The translational-science centre was proposed by Collins late last
year and fast-tracked by the administration of President Barack Obama
for establishment in 2012. But the dissolution of the NCRR has met
with some resistance within the NIH, particularly from those worried
about the fate of its programmes, which will be parcelled out to other
NIH institutes and the director=92s office (see Nature 471, 15=9616;
2011). And in June, Denny Rehberg (Republican, Montana), chairman of
the House Committee on Appropriations for Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies objected to not having
received a formal budget request for the new centre. The committee
made no provision for it in a draft bill released on 29 September. The
reappearance of the centre in legislation passed by the Senate on 17
December =97 and expected to be signed into law by Obama =97 brings
Collins=92s initiative closer to reality.
=93Having the NIH in the discussions about the future of translational
research is critical, so we are excited about its potential role,=94
says Margaret Anderson, executive director of Faster=ADCures, an
organization based in Washington DC that works to speed up medical
progress. =93This is a smart allocation of resources.=94
The NIH also gets a reprieve from footing the $298-million cost of the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which will now be
covered by the Department of State. Overall, the NIH receives $299
million more than last year.
The omnibus bill also includes allocations for the Department of
Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (see =91 Science by the
numbers=92). Funding for some agencies, including NASA and the National
Science Foundation (NSF), was established in a bill that passed on 17
November (see Nature 479, 455=96456; 2011).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta,
Georgia, will also see a small increase from last year=92s allocation,
some of which comes from the mammoth health-care reform bill that
Obama championed in 2010. But Karl Moeller, executive director of the
Campaign for Public Health in Washington DC, worries about a
longer-term decline in the agency=92s discretionary budget and about the
CDC=92s lack of champions on Capitol Hill. =93If you poll the public, they
love prevention, but funding that, for some reason, just doesn=92t
excite members of Congress,=94 says Moeller.
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