Research Support

Senators Hear of Need for Consistent Funding

Both Cures and Job Creation Said to Require Years of Backing

It took 26 years of consistent funding by the National Cancer Institute to take the field of angiogenesis from theory to agents capable of dramatically shrinking tumors, Judah Folkman, professor of pediatric surgery at HMS and Children's Hospital, told a Senate forum on the economic impact of biomedical science on June 23.

Financial expert Peter Lynch, a member of the board of the Fidelity Group of Funds, told the senators that the nation is in danger of eating its technological seed corn if it does not increase its investment in basic science. Noting that 73 percent of all patents come from publicly funded research, Lynch said technology-dependent industries are thriving now because of public investments in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. However, he warned that with the share of the gross domestic product devoted to federal R&D dropping from 1.8 percent in 1960 to less than 0.6 percent today, tomorrow's jobs are in jeopardy.

Senator Kennedy (left) opened the forum saying, "Biomedical is one of the most important federal investments." Judah Folkman (right) gave a dramatic reason why.

Folkman noted that it's not just the jobs created by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry that are at risk, but also the careers of the vast pool of top young scientists whom we have trained. "They are frustrated by the low success rates for grants and many are considering leaving the field."

Basic science funding's double benefit of cures and jobs was echoed at the forum by Henri Termeer, president and CEO of Boston-based Genzyme Corp.

The forum, hosted by HMS alumnus Bill Frist (R-TN) and fellow senators Connie Mack (R-FL), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Tom Harkin (D-IA), was organized by two groups pushing for a doubling of the NIH budget in five years, America's Campaign for Medical Breakthroughs and the Task Force on Science, Health and the Economy. The latter is chaired by Boston businessman Arthur Ullian, who serves on an HMS advisory committee, as do Frist, Lynch, and Termeer.

Focus 7/17/98