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NCATS included in NIH budget

This is a news item from the Genetic Alliance policy bulletin. The NIH got a very modest funding increase, but this is good news in that so many other government agencies didn't get anything, or were cut. The increases will pretty much take care of inflation etc. But, half of the increase is going to fund NCATS, a program the HPS Network has joined with other groups to encourage. NCATS stands for National Center for Advancing Transitional Sciences. In other words, they're looking for ways to get research from it's early stages into clinical trials faster. It's unlikely HPS or CHS will be one of the first diseases they look at, but in the bigger, long-term picture, we'll benefit from some of the new ideas and methods that come out of this.



NIH Funding Includes Creation of NCATS


President Obama signed the 2012 omnibus spending bill into law on Friday, December 23, 2011. The $915 billion bill, which generated passionate debate in Congress, increased spending for several science agencies, including the NIH (National Institutes of Health). The 2012 budget for the NIH will increase by $299 million compared to last fiscal year – to $30.7 billion – with almost half the entire budget going towards the creation of the new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). NIH Director Francis Collins recommended this center last year, with the increasing importance of promoting translational research – it will replace the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR).














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