The Benefits of Medical Research and the Role of the NIH

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* The U.S. government is the leader in medical research. One way it does this is through public funding of the National Institutes of Health:
o Leading the battle against disease. As the world’s leading medical research institution, the NIH funds more than 35,000 research grants each year to scientists across the country making advances against heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. NIH-funded scientists have won 93 Nobel Prizes over the years, and researchers in the NIH’s own labs have won 5 Nobel Prizes.
o High returns from federal investments. The federal government, mainly through the NIH, funds about 36 percent of all U.S. medical research. Most NIH-funded research focuses on basic science, which creates advances across many disease categories. Publicly funded research in general generates high rates of return to the economy, averaging 25 to 40 percent a year.
o Successes against many diseases. NIH-funded research has contributed to dramatic decreases in heart disease and stroke mortality rates, increased cancer survival rates, new medications for mental illness, vaccines to protect against infectious diseases, and many other advances in medicine.
o NIH behind 15 of 21 top drugs. Of the 21 most important drugs introduced between 1965 and 1992, 15 were developed using knowledge and techniques from federally funded research. Of these, NIH research led to the development of 7 drugs used to treat patients with cancer, AIDS, hypertension, depression, herpes, and anemia.