Breakthroughs in Bioscience

1
Breakthroughs in Bioscience

• From NIH-Funded Basic Research to Improved Health

Washington

2
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Nations medical research agency
• Funds the science that leads to medical
  advancement
• Campus in Bethesda, MD but most funding is
  distributed to university researchers throughout
  the United States
• Univ. of Washington (UW) ranks 5th overall among
  institutions in NIH funding (gt390M) the state
  ranks 9th overall.

3
Research Enterprise Is Critical to Washingtons
Economy

• The biotech and medical device industry
  employed approximately 20,000 people in
  Washington in 2002
• The indirect job multiplier for a single high
  biotech job ranges between 2.23 and 3.4, adding
  significant additional employment to Washingtons
  economy
• The Seattle area is the sixth largest
  biotechnology center in the country
• Research supported 7,600 full-time equivalent
  employees at Univ. of Washington (UW) in FY 2005
  and research funding generated about 34,000 jobs
  statewide
• UW technology licenses generated over 18.6
  million in revenue (FY 2005)
• The economic activity of Washington State Univ.
  (WSU) translates into more than 10,000 jobs
  statewide

4
Leveraging the States Investment with
Extramural Research Dollars

• UW receives more federal research funding than
  any other American public university, a position
  it has held each year since 1974
• 188 new companies have been based on UW research
  advances
• In fiscal year 1996, WSU leveraged 226.2 million
  of state funding into a total budget of 515.5
  million
• The Technology Alliance (a statewide consortium
  of business leaders, research institutions, and
  high-tech trade associations) is advocating a
  grants program through 2017 that would make an
  impact of 1.35 billion, generate over 20,000
  jobs and innovate health care advancements for
  the citizens of WA

5
The NIH Top 20 Universities An Elite Group

• Johns Hopkins
• UC San Francisco
• Pennsylvania
• Michigan Ann Arbor
• Washington
• Washington U
• Pitt
• Yale
• Duke
• UCLA

• UNC Chapel Hill
• UC San Diego
• Stanford
• Vanderbilt
• Columbia
• Minnesota
• Wisconsin
• Emory
• Baylor
• MIT

6
NIH Saving Lives Through Science

• Current annual budget of around 29.3 billion
• Greater than 80 distributed throughout the
  country
• More than 50,000 grants
• 212,000 scientists
• 2,800 universities
• Four Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine
  awarded to UW scientists since 1990
• Portfolio of basic, translational, and clinical
  research

NIH has been involved in nearly all the medical
health related discoveries of the past century
7
How NIH Makes Science Happen

• Researchers working at local universities,
  hospitals and research institutions are dependent
  on federal support to fund their research, hire
  lab personnel and train young scientists
• They write research grant proposals to compete
  for funding
• Must explain why they think its a good idea, how
  theyre going to do the experiments, and what
  impact it will have on science medicine
• Proposals are reviewed in a two-tiered system
• Peer-reviewed by scientists to ensure highest
  quality science
• Reviewed again for applicability to scientific or
  health priorities by NIH officials and other
  stakeholders, including public members
• NIH review system is the envy of the world!
• Very competitive!!!
• Before - 1 in 3 proposals funded now closer to 1
  in 6
• High quality research is not being done for lack
  of funding

8
Basic Research From Bench to Bedside

• Much of NIH funding goes to basic or fundamental
  research
• Basic research is driven by interest in a
  scientific question
• The main motivation is to expand knowledge and
  understanding, not to create or invent something
• However, the insight into how the human body
  works and understanding of how diseases and
  disorders operate provides the foundation for
  medical progress

"People cannot foresee the future well enough to
predict what's going to develop from basic
research. If we only did applied research, we
would still be making better spears." Dr.
George Smoot, Berkeley National Lab
9
What about medical breakthroughs?

• Medical breakthroughs often come from unrelated
  areas of science or medicine
• Research on cancer biology has led to drugs for
  heart disease viral diseases like influenza,
  Herpes AIDS and osteoporosis
• Physicists studying the effects of magnets on
  atomic particles made the discovery that gave us
  MRI
• Usually based on years or decades of fundamental
  knowledge
• Over time, scientists solve or find different
  pieces of the puzzle
• This makes it difficult to predict where the next
  breakthrough will come from
• Makes it imperative to support a broad range of
  scientific research
• Much of this research is too basic for the
  private sector
• The federal investment often lays the foundation
  for advances in healthcare

10
Evolution of Research to Healthcare
Selected modern examples
11
Cardiovascular disease

• Information on the biochemical structure
  synthesis of cholesterol led to the development
  of statins
• Discoveries in basic kidney biology and blood
  pressure regulation converged with an unexpected
  finding involving snake venom to yield ACE
  inhibitors, one of our most effective
  hypertension medications
• Understanding how the blood clots, together with
  a new cancer treatment and the first commercial
  use of recombinant technologies, resulted in
  rtPA, a clot-busting drug that can prevent death
  from heart attack or stroke

RESULTS?? 63 REDUCTION IN DEATHS FROM HEART
DISEASE AND A 70 REDUCTION IN DEATHS DUE TO
STROKE MORE THAN 1 MILLION LIVES SAVED IN 2006
ALONE
12
Cardiovascular disease
60
70
Economic return of improved treatment
prevention 2.6 TRILLION
30-year Investment per American 110.00 Total
13
HIV / AIDS

• Fundamental knowledge of how viruses replicate
  gave scientists targets for therapy. Researchers
  looking for a new cancer drug hit one of those
  targets when they discovered a way to block
  replication, resulting in the development of AZT.
  
• Increased understanding of how HIV operates at
  the cellular and molecular level identified more
  targets, and eventually led to the combination of
  drugs knows as the triple cocktail.

RESULTS?? AIDS HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM AN ACUTE
FATAL ILLNESS TO A CHRONIC CONDITION THE
PROPHYLACTIC USE OF ANTI-VIRALS PREVENTED ALMOST
350,000 DEATHS WORLDWIDE IN 2005
14
HIV / AIDS
Survival rates for those infected with HIV has
increased by 10 years
15
Cancer

• Basic research into the shape and characteristics
  of the estrogen receptor gave us tamoxifen, which
  can reduce breast cancer incidence among women at
  risk by over 45.
• The breakthrough finding that human
  papillomavirus (HPV) could cause cervical cancer
  has led to a new vaccine that NIH estimated could
  reduce cervical cancer incidence by as much as
  90.
• While investigating the cellular machinery
  controlling cell growth, scientists developed
  bortezomib - now used to treat patients with
  multiple myeloma.

RESULTS?? FROM 1993-2002, CANCER DEATH RATES
DROPPED 1.1 PER YEAR MORE THAN 2/3 OF PEOPLE
DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER CAN EXPECT TO LIVE 5 YEARS
16
Cancer
30-year Investment per American 260.00 Total
17
Infant mortality

• Studies on lung function led to the discovery of
  surfactant. This protein-lipid mixture is crucial
  for the survival of premature infants, decreasing
  the number of infant deaths from respiratory
  distress from 15,000 per year to less than 1,000.
• The use of anti-virals to prevent mother to child
  HIV transmission has reduced the rate from 25 to
  about 1 in the U.S.
• Studies on a metabolite of progesterone, known as
  progesterone 17P, have led to the finding that
  injections of this compound can reduce pre-term
  deliveries by as much as 30, a particularly
  important result for African American women.

RESULTS?? IN LESS THAN A CENTURY, INFANT
MORTALITY IN THE U.S. HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 90,
TRANSLATING TO ALMOST 500,000 BABIES SAVED PER
YEAR
18
NIH-Funded Discoveries at UW

• Developed a targeted gene therapy that eradicated
  the genetic mutations in adult stem cells
  associated with brittle bone disease, leading to
  possible therapy
• Development of EPO growth factor for treatment of
  anemia due to kidney failure, also used in cancer
  patients with anemia
• Discovered a protein involved in muscle-wasting
  diseases that plays a role in moving water in and
  out of brain cells, opening new avenues for
  treating brain swelling
• Use of recombinant DNA to develop clotting
  factors for those with hemophilia
• Created the treadmill test for exercise tolerance
  for people with suspected or known heart disease
• Created software that performs rapid DNA analysis

19
The Bottom Line

• People are living longer, healthier lives because
  of NIH funded medical research
• What were once swiftly fatal illnesses have
  become treatable or manageable conditions
• For those suffering from diseases that have no
  current treatment or cure, medical research
  provides hope which has a major impact on
  quality of life

20
The Challenge

• NIH funding is entirely dependent on
  Congressional support
• In recent years, Congressional support has
  diminished, and the NIH budget is slowly eroding
  from lack of funding and inflation
• Lack of understanding in Congress about the
  importance of medical research and the treatments
  and hope it provides
• As the NIH budget falls, success rate also falls

• Diminished investment in NIH loss of talented
  researchers missed opportunities delays in
  medical progress

21
Washingtons Congressmen Need to Advocate for NIH
Funding

• Nothing should surpass improving our health as a
  national priority
• Opportunities for discoveries that translate to
  improved health for our citizens have never been
  greater
• Every increase in the NIH budget means additional
  funding for research in the state and new jobs

22
We Need your HelpWorking Together for NIH

• Contact Senators Murray and Cantwell and your
  Congressional Representative
• Let them know that medical research is important
  to you and what a bargain it is
• Write a letter to the newspaper and talk to your
  friends
• Help educate policymakers and neighbors about the
  important work NIH is doing
• Nothing is more important than our health
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) should be
  an American priority

23
Want to know more??
Please visit http//opa.faseb.org
Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB)