AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, M.D., June 5 sent a letter to House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) endorsing the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6). The letter commends the representatives for their “leadership and vision in recognizing the critical importance of maintaining funding for medical research as a national priority.”
The letter expresses gratitude for the provisions that would reauthorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for three years at funding levels that represent an increase of $1.5 billion per year, and provide $10 billion over the next five years in mandatory funding through an NIH Innovation Fund. “This is a most welcome infusion of funding that will help revitalize and rebuild our nation’s biomedical research capacity, which has eroded because of NIH losing nearly one-fourth of its budget after inflation in the past decade,” the letter states.
In addition, the letter states, “An important aspect of this Innovation Fund is that it supplement, not replace, the regular appropriations for NIH, and AAMC will work with Congress to ensure that the Innovation Fund enhances the base NIH budget.”