Why Research Matters

A few weeks ago, we were tantalized by the news that a new treatment for leukemia might be on the horizon. 

Three very sick patients were injected with a new drug.  It was made from – of all things – a modified version of the virus that causes AIDS.  After a year, two were disease-free and the third had a 70% reduction in disease tissue.  One researcher was quoted as saying that the results “exceeded our wildest expectations.”

But the rest of the story pointed out that the discovery almost didn’t happen.  There wasn’t enough research money for a full trial.  Neither the National Cancer Institute nor pharmaceutical companies had funding for the research.  A family foundation stepped up, but that’s why there were only enough funds for three patients to participate initially.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funder of biomedical research in the United States.  In requesting a budget of $32 billion for FY2012, it noted that research that it funded has reduced death rates from stroke by 70% and deaths from coronary heart disease by 60% since 1970.  It has also contributed to the amazing results that have been achieved over the last twenty years in HIV/AIDS management, and to a significant reduction in cancer deaths as well.

We spend $2.4 trillion on health care in America.  Shortly after NIH made this request for just over 1% of that, Congress cut its funding to $250 million below 2010 levels. 

On its cover, the AARP Magazine for September/October 2011 trumpets “Amazing Medical Discoveries That Will Change Your Life.”  These discoveries were the result of funded research.  They include artificial retinas, prostate cancer vaccines, and magnets for depression relief – all currently available.  AARP sees new breast cancer drugs and adult stem cells for coronary artery disease treatment in just a few years, and even more exotic treatments down the road.

These discoveries will all make a huge difference in how we live.

Research isn’t just the work of scientists in labs, and doesn’t just result in new drugs and treatments.  Sometimes, it results in safer medical procedures that not only preserve life, but also lower costs at the same time.

NIH says that research advances have saved trillions of dollars.

Here’s one story of money-saving research advances.  Jeffrey B. Cooper, a biomedical engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital, has made patient safety his life’s work.  Though he has labored in relative obscurity – I doubt that more than a thimble full of policy leaders outside of the Greater Boston area have ever heard of him – he played a key role in the development of modern anesthesia “standard of practice” guidelines, developed technology to manage the use of anesthesia in operating rooms, and facilitated the development of simulation training to ensure patient safety.

The bottom line results of his work suggest that there is more than one way to achieve tort reform.  As training and practice standards evolved and improved, there were fewer adverse patient reactions to anesthesia and fewer deaths.  This resulted in lower costs to insurers, which led to lower malpractice rates for physicians.

Research brings about medical advances, improved training, and better patient treatment.  But that’s not all.

The Framingham Heart Study was recently in the news because it released some new research linking poor health habits in middle age to brain shrinkage.  What makes this Study remarkable is that it has been ongoing since 1948. NIH is a partner, along with a number of other public and private institutions.  It is following its third generation of individuals now, and has participated in some of the most important advances in our understanding of cardiac disease risk factors.

We have another federal agency devoted to disease prevention, the CDC.  Its total budget of $11 billion is less than one half of one percent of our annual health care expenditures.

Most of us take for granted or devalue these agencies, and the many hundreds of researchers who have developed cures or treatments for disease, procedures and training that save patient lives, and strategies for preventing chronic conditions. 

The people who settled Jamestown did not yet know that blood circulated in the body, and those who prepared to declare our freedom from England still did not even know what oxygen was.

But our nation’s founders were scientists as well as public officials.  Modern health care is the result of their embrace of the miracle of modern science.

But in today’s United States, not everyone has equal access to advanced prevention and treatments.  Our health care safety net no longer catches everyone.

And we’re forgetting the value of research – that because of it we now live longer, healthier lives.

Research requires funding, and a willingness to embrace the legacy of our parents and grandparents.

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