A Grand Challenge in Need of a Grand Solution
The President announced plans late last year to create a National Bioeconomy Blueprint. This Blueprint would detail government-wide steps “to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment.” The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy recently solicited comments to inform the Blueprint.
Responding to the Aging of the Population
A group of aging and Alzheimer’s advocates will be meeting this week with the senior leadership of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to call for an increase in funding for the National Institute on Aging (NIA). In advance of this meeting, the group has orchestrated a sign-on letter to demonstrate widespread support for $1.4 billion, an increase of $300 million, in the FY 2013 NIH Budget to support the NIA. A similar letter was generated last year and garnered more than 400 signatures.
Are we there yet?
Many of you may still have this phrase ringing in your ears if you traveled with children for any length of time this past holiday season. Representatives from the ACT-AD Coalition, chaired by the Alliance for Aging Research, heard these same words almost two years ago, not uttered from the mouths of babes, but rather by prominent officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a conversation regarding evidence to support the use of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in clinical trials for “disease-modifying” therapies.
Drumroll please…
And the winner is…medical research? Just in time to avert a government shutdown, Congress passed a $1 trillion spending package on Friday. This bill will fund all of the government agencies through the end of the current fiscal year.
Test Your Techno Tolerance
How do you feel about genetic engineering? What’s your position on stem cell research? Is it ok for us to invest technology that could make us immortal? What kind of restrictions should be placed on our use of technology? Are you a neo-luddite? Transhumanist?
FDA Needs More Funding to Fulfill Its Mission
On February 4, 2008, the Bush administration released its proposed budget recommendations for funding all federal agencies in fiscal year 2009. Under this proposal, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would receive a 2.9% overall increase in funding this year.
