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US medical research spending rises, results lag

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 16:56 CDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Annual U.S. spending on medical research doubled in the past decade to more than $94 billion in 2003, but the additional dollars have yielded only disappointing results, a study said on Tuesday.

"There aren't a lot of diseases where we can point to and say we have an answer today that we didn't have a decade ago," said Dr. Hamilton Moses of The Alerion Institute, a North Garden, Virginia, think tank that evaluates research policy.

Doctors were frustrated at not having cures to offer patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease or childhood diseases, such as autism and juvenile diabetes, he said.

"It raises the question (of) are we getting our money's worth? Are we capturing the full value of that significant investment?" Moses said.

Total U.S. spending on medical research derived primarily from corporate, government and charitable sources doubled to $94.3 billion in 2003 versus 1994, after adjusting for inflation, according to the report published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Industry funded about 57 percent of the total, the U.S. government provided 28 percent and charities and foundations about 5 percent.

"Foundations have a vital role to play," the report said. "They are able to support research that is risky scientifically (and politically) for scientists who are going in a very new area that may be extremely important."

The development of useful new drugs has lagged compared to research results produced by the biotech and medical device industries, the study said. Pharmaceutical companies created an average of 23 new molecular compounds between 2001 and 2004, down from 35.5 per year from 1994 to 1997.

The report said pharmaceutical companies frequently decide that compounds approved by regulators are not worth bringing to market because they would compete with existing drugs that are safe and effective.

"For all sponsors, the challenge is patience. Biomedical research is an inherently high risk and lengthy process," Moses said.

While the United States spends nearly 6 percent of its health expenditures on biomedical research, more than any other nation, the report criticized the minimal outlays for research on evaluating the new cures.

Source: REUTERS

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