Cutting NIH funding could be devastating

I can only assume that the president and the Republicans have no understanding of biomedical research funding and the critical nature of the NIH in this funding. While there is likely waste, as is true in all agencies as well as private business, cutting it off is non-sensical and potentially devastating.

It is easy to find this information, so I don’t understand why anyone would make these decisions. The NIH funds approximately 60% of all biomedical research at our universities. NIH-related research was impactful in 354 of 356 drugs approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2019. NIH funding dwarfs the rest of the world in biomedical research funding. It is 25 times larger than the second largest fund (Wellcare Trust), 30 times more than the UK and 82 times more than the EU commission.

Without this funding or another way to do it, the world, not just the U.S., will take a huge step backward in battling disease. We should find other ways to fund this research (private or public) and not just cut before we change the methods.

Ken Maltas

Prospect Heights