Medical Progress Slowed?

March 11—, 2008 -- Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney is hopeful she's discovered a medication that has enormous potential to fight disease, but for the moment that medication sits in a freezer in her laboratory with nowhere to go.

"It's possible that in five years, we've found a drug that can stop heart failure," said Rafael-Fortney, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry at Ohio State University. But until Rafael-Fortney gets renewed funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to do more legwork, the heart medication will have to wait.

Rafael-Fortney is one of many researchers who stand to discover breakthroughs and cures to diseases like heart failure, diabetes and cancer, but who are in a holding pattern without adequate funding from the NIH.

A study released today by six research universities and a leading teaching hospital warns that without increases in funding, the U.S. could lose the next generation of promising researchers and the potential medical advances they're working on.

The budget for the NIH hasn't increased for five years. Lacking resources, researchers are now waiting longer to receive their first grant and only about one in four original research applications to the NIH is being funded. Many do not receive full support.

Though she received an initial grant for her work, Rafael-Fortney's application to renew it has since been rejected twice. She's cut back her laboratory staff from nine people to one full-time and one part-time worker because she relies on grant money to pay their salaries. She will need to retrain new researchers if and when she's able to hire more.

"They are confronted with a reality that diminishes many of their hopes and dreams," Harvard University President Drew Faust told a Senate panel on Monday. "Where will we be in ten years if we discourage a generation of trailblazers?"

William Lawson is another up-and-coming researcher who has felt fortunate to find funding for his work, despite overcoming some hurdles.

After failing to receive an NIH grant in 2004, Lawson received an award in 2006 for what he calls a "stepping stone grant" that would allow for mentored training to help him develop his research. Lawson is studying how the dysfunction of certain cells impacts a disease that scars the lungs.

"I've been successful thus far in getting the grant that I needed, to get to this point to further my career and do the things I need to do," said Lawson, a 38-year-old M.D. who decided to pursue research after completing medical school, his residency and a fellowship. "My biggest concern is what this is doing to researchers in general. We're losing a lot of people who are training along beside me."

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was receptive Tuesday to increasing the $28 billion NIH budget, but he acknowledged he'll need to convince his colleagues to make it a priority.

Meantime, advocates like Dana Lewis, a sophomore at the University of Alabama, said more money for the NIH is imperative to helping her fight her disease. Lewis learned she had Type 1 diabetes five years ago at the age of 14 and has since pushed for more resources to help fight the disease. Lewis said the device she uses to administer insulin has gone from size of a Blackberry to smaller than a cell phone and she also gives herself fewer injections now than she used to thanks to advances in her medication.

"Increased research leads to better improvements in technology, and, hopefully, progress towards a cure," she said.

The report released Tuesday was co-authored by experts at Brown, Duke, Harvard, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, the University of California Los Angeles, and Partners Healthcare.