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CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Labor, HHS, and Education (L/HHS) – Burden of
Chronic Diseases
On April 20, 2007, the Senate L/HHS
Appropriations Subcommittee [Tom Harkin (D-IA),
Chairman] held an NIH budget hearing on the
burden of chronic diseases. The following NIH
Directors testified: Drs. Richard Hodes,
Director, NIA; Stephen Katz, Director, NIAMS;
Elizabeth Nabel, Director, NHLBI; and Griffin
Rodgers, Director, NIDDK.
L/HHS Chairman Harkin’s Opening Remarks:
Senate L/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee
Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) opened the hearing by
stating that the subcommittee intends to meet
with the director of every NIH institute this
spring. He stated that he and Senator Specter
have pledged to reject the President’s proposed
cuts to NIH for Fiscal Year 2008, and believes
that these kinds of hearings will help make the
case for NIH funding. He also remarked that the
hearing offered the first opportunity for
witnesses to respond to direct questions about
the impact of the President’s budget.
L/HHS Ranking Member Specter’s Opening
Remarks:
Senate L/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking
Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) stated that the
subcommittee deserved a generous allocation and
emphasized the importance of providing political
muscle to the issue of biomedical research. He
encouraged the NIH directors, as well as those
in the research field, to provide the
justification necessary to generate support for
NIH. He also stated how important it is for
researchers to come to Washington D.C. to flex
their political muscles and put pressure on
Congress to do the right thing with regards to
medical research.
The Key Question Asked During the Question
and Answer Period:
Research Limitations Due to a Challenging
Budget Environment?
Question - In the absence of Senator
Specter, who had to leave before the questioning
began, Senator Cochran asked each of the
directors to “comment about the adequacy of
these funding levels and what could be done if
we are able to increase those above the
President’s level” and how such increases might
be used.
Answers - The directors all remarked
about the importance of protecting new
investigators. However, the directors also
commented on many other areas. For example, Dr.
Hodes mentioned limitations that current funding
might place on research initiatives. He noted
that the ability now to fund research across the
whole spectrum is certainly limited; it is
reflected in numbers such as success rates, the
proportion of applications, outstanding
applications that NIH is able to actually fund,
but also in terms of the studies that cannot be
done because NIH cannot fund them. He also
mentioned examples of what may fall out of the
payline, such as studies to understand basic
underlying biology or clinical trials on
Alzheimer’s disease, or to prevent frailty, to
prevent diabetes, to prevent other age related
outcomes.
Dr. Katz agreed with Dr. Hodes’ point with
regard to the success rate, and noted that there
are many outstanding applications that his
Institute does not fund now; thus, the success
rate would increase with additional funds. He
also mentioned initiatives specific to his
Institute, such as in regenerative medicine,
which will continue but at a slower pace without
adequate increases. In addition, clinical
studies with regard to surgery verses
non-surgery for low back pain will be slowed.
There is a major osteoarthritis initiative with
NIA and other institutes as well as with private
industry, to identify biomarkers and predictors
for progression of disease. This will allow NIH
to determine who is at risk, and to conduct
studies with shorter endpoints. However, without
adequate funding increases, such initiatives
will be delayed.
Dr. Nabel said that NHLBI has not been able to
fund the small, innovative grants which
accelerate into the larger ones. Her Institute
has had to scale back on supplements that bring
in new talent, including physicists and
nanomedicine experts to existing grants, all of
which would bring new ideas into the pipeline.
In the past, supplements have been provided to
awards for new equipment, but that is no longer
the case. Like her colleagues, she noted that
she has a number of very basic investigations
and clinical studies that NHLBI would really
like to fund. One example of this would be to
study patients with diabetes to determine
whether early preemption can forestall, prevent,
delay, or reverse some of the morbidity and
mortality associated with the disease.
Dr. Rogers commented that the budget situation
has affected his Institutes’ ability to invest
in training programs. He also stated that small
innovative grants are being funded at a lower
level than NIDDK would like, and that they have
had to cut back on funding supplements to
existing grants. He also remarked that he would
love to be able to support a study to examine
ways to pre-empt people from getting diabetes.
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Labor, HHS, and Education (L/HHS) – Frontiers of
Science
On May 7, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, HHS, and Education (Senator Tom Harkin
[D-IA], Chairman) held its third NIH theme
hearing on the frontiers of science. Drs.
Francis Collins, Director, NHGRI; Jeremy Berg,
Director, NIGMS; Roderic Pettigrew, Director,
NIBIB; and Donald Lindberg, Director, NLM,
testified.
L/HHS Chairman Harkin’s Remarks:
Chairman Harkin remarked that the purpose of the
theme hearings is to learn more about and
understand what NIH is doing. This particular
hearing, which was the third one for the
subcommittee, was scheduled to examine the
Institutes that enable science to move forward
through their support for cutting edge tools and
resources. Senator Harkin also commented that
there is a lot of exciting things happening at
NIH and he hopes to provide NIH with a
significant increase, but much is dependent on
the allocation his subcommittee receives.
Since he was the only Member of Congress in
attendance, Senator Harkin spent considerable
time asking about topics that intrigued him or
for which he just wanted some data. His
questions ranged from basic queries to asking
for details about NIH’s
summer program and outreach to students across
the county to energize them about science
careers.
The Senator was interested in many of the new
discoveries highlighted by the witnesses,
including the most recent discovery of new genes
for Type II diabetes, which has the potential,
as Dr. Collins stated, to open new doors for
prevention and treatment. Dr. Collins also
discussed spin offs resulting from sequencing
the human genome, such as the HapMap, the cancer
genome atlas, and the genes and the environment
initiative underway. The Senator expressed
concern with the rise in health care costs, some
due to research discoveries. Dr. Berg responded
that this may not be the case in the future as
it is just as likely that some costs will go
down when people receive medications targeted
for the individual. Costly treatments would no
longer be given to individuals who, if
determined in advance, would not benefit from
the treatment.
There was also considerable discussion of the
new information about a treatment for macular
degeneration. Dr. Collins pointed out that this
discovery came out of research on cancer, a drug
found to reduce the growth of blood vessels
which feed tumors. Mr. Harkin asked about
nanotechnology and Dr. Pettigrew discussed
several new developments with nanotechnology,
including one example of a nanoparticle as a
drug delivery mechanism.
In addition, Senator Harkin raised the issue of
public access when he asked, “If Congress
required all NIH funded researchers to submit
its articles to an NIH database, would it
improve scientists’ ability to conduct
research?”
Dr. Lindberg responded that it would improve
their abilities “quite a bit.” He commented that
NLM is currently receiving less than 5% of the
articles now (the 5% figure he cited does not
include those that are deposited directly into
PubMed Central). Dr. Lindberg pointed out that
75% of the articles that are deposited into
PubMed Central “get used right away.” He also
mentioned that NLM is partnering with Wellcome
Trust in order to assure that researchers have
access to worldwide databases. Senator Harkin
commented that he still was unsure as to what
direction the subcommittee would take with
regards to this issue.
Senator Harkin closed with the thought that it
is important to get young people involved in
science and interested in research; he does not
want the uncertainty of the budgets to destroy
their interest. He said that hopefully he and
Senator Specter can fix this with “better
budgets.”
Hearing on the Welfare of Animals
On Tuesday, May 8, the House Committee on
Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy,
and Poultry held a hearing to review the welfare
of animals in agriculture. Congressman Leonard
Boswell (D-IA) and Congressman Robin Hayes
(R-NC) are the Chairman and Ranking Member of
the Subcommittee. In his opening statement,
Chairman Boswell said ‘mistreated animals do not
produce’ and it would be counterintuitive for
farmers to treat their animals poorly. Ranking
Member Hayes stated that he would ‘stand strong
for producers and stand-up to [animal
activists]’ and he was ‘please to see the
scientific community represented’.
Although the Members opening statements and
questioning focused on issues related to the
prohibition on the sale of horses for slaughter,
and a discussions related to the strategies and
tactics employed by animal rights organizations,
the Subcommittee did have an opportunity to hear
from a member of the research community. Steven
Leary, DVM, presented testimony on behalf of
The National Association for Biomedical Research
(NABR). Other panelists included:
Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm
Mr. Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO, The Humane
Society of the United States
Dr. Gail C. Golab, PhD, DVM, Associate Director,
Animal Welfare Division, AVMA
Mr. Gene Gregory, President, United Egg
Producers
Mr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Sonoma Foie Gras, on
behalf of Artisan Farmers Alliance
Mr. David Martosko, Director of Research, Center
for Consumer Freedom
Mr. Gene Baur, President, Farm Sanctuary
Mr. Paxton Ramsey, Member, National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association
Ms. Barbara Determan, National Pork Producers
Council
Ms. Leslie Vagneur Lange, National Director,
American Quarter Horse Association
Ms. Karen Jordan, DVM, Owner, Large Animal
Veterinary Services, on behalf of National Milk
Producers Federation
Their written statements can be found online:
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/statements.html
Dr. Leary made a strong case for the humane use
of animals in biomedical research, higher
education, and product safety testing. In his
description of the voluntary requirements that
most institutions follow, Dr. Leary stated,
‘Ninety-nine of the top 100 NIH awardee
institutions, all US and many international
locations of all PhRMA members, all large and
most medium-sized biotech companies, all NIH,
DOD and VA intramural research programs, have
voluntarily sought accreditation with the
Association for Assessment and Accreditation of
Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC
International).’
Dr. Leary quoted Dr. Michael DeBakey, Baylor
College of Medicine and Director of the DeBakey
Heart Center, to express NABR’s members’ goals
of finding ways to cure both human and animal
ailments. “These scientists, veterinarians,
physicians, surgeons and others who do research
in animal labs are as much concerned about the
care of the animals as anyone can be. Their
respect for the dignity of life and compassion
for the sick and disabled, in fact, is what
motivated them to search for ways of relieving
the pain and suffering caused by diseases.” Dr.
Leary received no questions from the panel.
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