Recent news
January 2012
US Government is increasingly funding infectious disease research
January 27, 2012 -- The Washington Post recently examined how since 2006, the US Government has been increasing its support for research and development (R&D) for infectious diseases. US Government spending on research for some infectious diseases has increased more than 660 percent, from $54 million in 2006 to $415 million last year. This research has gone to efforts to develop new vaccines, antibiotics, and other treatments.
According to the Post, these infectious diseases include widespread global health threats, such as smallpox and flu viruses, as well as diseases like staph infections. “Many of these are everyday, general diseases that we thought we had conquered decades ago, but we’ve seen some of them pop up again,” said Dr. Robin Robinson, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). BARDA’s role at HHS is to manage the procurement and development of medical tools and technologies such as vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs. Specifically, BARDA’s Strategic Science and Technology Division identifies and funds research for medical tools and technologies that show promise in reducing global illnesses.
Since 2005, BARDA has awarded $3.5 billion to outside companies to encourage research and production of antibiotics, flu vaccines, and other products. “We have pushed the envelope more toward diminishing the risk for companies so that they’ll be more interested in getting involved with us and developing things like vaccines and antivirals,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Part of the reason that the US government has increased spending on infectious disease R&D is to compensate for a new focus among pharmaceutical companies on treatments for rare diseases. For example, of the 30 new drugs that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved last year, 11 were for rare diseases. More drug companies are taking advantage of incentives to develop drugs for rare diseases, including extra patent protections, an expedited review process by the FDA, and tax breaks on the cost of developing the drugs.
