PR Newswire
09/02/03, 2:04p
(Copyright © 2003, PR Newswire)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, a pioneering heart surgeon and Chancellor Emeritus at Baylor College of Medicine, announced today his support for FY04 increased funding for the National Institutes of Health. The announcement by Dr. DeBakey, a board member of Research!America, came in the form of an article being published today. To follow is the text of the article:

Supporting Medical Research Saves Lives

By Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.
Chancellor Emeritus Baylor College of Medicine
Distinguished Service Professor and Olga Keith Wiess Professor of Surgery
Director, DeBakey Heart Center,
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

As Congress reconvenes, senators will have an extraordinary opportunity to vote to preserve America's world leadership in medical and health research. Thanks to a far-reaching, bipartisan amendment introduced to the Labor/Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill by Senators Specter (PA), Harkin (LA), and Feinstein (CA), desperately needed additional funding would be committed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to America, and to the world's premier engine of investment in medical discovery. This amendment would increase the level of NIH funding for FY 2004 from a currently proposed 3.7 percent to 9.2 percent -- a level critical if research momentum in our battle against disease and disability is to be sustained.

America's commitment to research has engendered remarkable progress on numerous disease fronts and helped extend our grasp on the unifying concepts of biology. Consider some of the select breakthroughs that have emerged as outcomes of our strong national investment in research:

* NIH research has led to a major reduction in deaths from coronary heart
disease and stroke. This accomplishment comes as a result of new
identification of cardiovascular risk factors and behavior modification,
as well as from new surgical interventions and the development of drugs
to treat hypertension and high cholesterol levels. Return on
investment: in 2000, 514,000 deaths from coronary heart disease versus
1,300,000 in the years 1950-2000, as assessed by the NIH.

* NIH research has provided advances in prevention and treatment of HIV
infection, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, as well as other devastating
transmittable diseases. Progress on this front has included new
screening mechanisms, improved vaccines, and reduced risk of infection
from blood transfusions. Return on investment: Mortality rates from HIV
are now one-fifth of what they would have been without research, and we
have virtually eliminated transfusion risk of infection for all these
viruses.

* NIH research has opened the door to new cellular approaches to the
defeat of cancer. By demystification of molecular function and
development of targeted treatments that attack diseased cells while
leaving healthy cells intact, tumors are increasingly vulnerable to
drug therapy. Return on investment: Since 1990, the Food and Drug
Administration has approved 143 new drugs deemed effective in combating
cancer.

* NIH research is moving rapidly to harness our understanding of
structural biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, and
molecular imaging. These will provide a new foundation for treatments
for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases such
as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS), as well as scores of other threats to human health.
Return on investment: New therapeutic, diagnostic, and preventive
strategies are within our reach.

The Specter-Harkin-Feinstein amendment will preserve and rededicate medical and health research for all Americans. The existing proposed funding increase of 2.5 percent by the House and 3.7 percent by the Senate in FY 2004, followed by proposed 2 percent increases for the next four years, would jeopardize NIH's capacity to develop new treatments, cures and vaccines, and would sacrifice our nation's premier position in advancing healthcare.

Ironically, anything short of a major increase in medical and scientific research funding would come at a time when American's from all walks of life have emphasized their commitment to research. Polls recently commissioned by Research!America, for example, showed that 97 percent of Americans believe that the United States should maintain its global leadership in research and its companion, improved healthcare. Americans want more, not less, of their tax dollars invested in medical research.

Without this amendment's vital funding, the number of new research projects would remain flat. Only 344 new research grants would be funded over FY 2003, of which only a paltry 21 would correspond to research in fields unrelated to bioterrorism. Further, the size of individual research projects would have to be cut, consigning the growth of research to a rate less than that of inflation. Our investment in the next generation of researchers would be severely compromised, since restrictive funding would slash graduate student stipend levels and send a chilling message to our most promising young basic and clinical scientists. Once our pool of researchers is diluted, it will take decades to replenish it.

Heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease alone claim the lives of some 4,200 Americans every day. These diseases of mass destruction are responsible for about 1.5 million American deaths every year, more than the number of all American lives lost in every war from the time of the Revolution to the present. I urge all U.S. Senators to join Senators Specter, Harkin, and Feinstein in preserving our global eminence in research and in protecting the health and security of our people. It would be tragic if the Specter-Harkin-Feinstein amendment to the Senate Labor/Health and Human Services Bill received less than full bipartisan support. For the sake of millions of Americans, patients with devastating diseases and their families, we are counting on our senators to do the right thing.

ABOUT RESEARCH!AMERICA

Research!America is a national, nonprofit, membership-supported public education and advocacy alliance founded in 1989 and dedicated to making medical and health research, including research to prevent disease and disability and to promote health, a much higher national priority. Its membership includes more than 450 academic institutions, professional societies, voluntary health agencies, industry, state and local organizations and philanthropies, representing over 40 million Americans. Research!America conducts public opinion polls and outreach programs and provides a unified link between the voice of citizens who support increased national investment in research and the influence of local, state and national opinion leaders and decision makers.

SOURCE Research!America