WASHINGTON – A government shutdown will compound the negative effects that sequestration is already having on U.S. researchers’ ability to discover new therapeutics and advance knowledge in oncology and other fields, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Speaking Sept. 30 at the Association of American Cancer Institutes annual meeting, Ms. Sebelius said it looked increasingly likely that Congress would fail to reach a federal budget agreement and that the government would be shut down Oct. 1.
Kathleen Sebelius
With a shutdown, "entrance to new [federally funded] clinical trials will stop right away," she said.
In the meantime, biomedical research continues to be diminished by the ongoing automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, she said. In March, Congress’ failure to come to an agreement on deficit reduction triggered an across-the-board cut at most federal agencies.
For the National Institutes of Health, that resulted in a 5% reduction to its $30 billion budget. Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute, said in May that his agency’s budget would by reduced by almost 6%, or $293 million. Most of the reduction was due to sequestration. The NCI expected to fund about 100 fewer new and competing grants than in the previous year (fiscal 2012).
Ms. Sebelius said that, at NIH overall, sequestration has resulted in 640 fewer grants being awarded in fiscal 2013 as compared to fiscal 2012. And it also has meant that there are "hundreds more projects we’ll be unable to advance in the year ahead." About 750 fewer patients were enrolled in clinical trials.
"When as a country, we neglect to invest in the NIH – the gold standard for research in the world – we pay for that neglect," she said. She added that slashing research funding hurts the nation’s global competitiveness at a time when other countries, such as India, China, South Korea, Brazil, and Japan are increasing their investment in biomedical research.
Many physician organizations and others have urged Congress to rescind the NIH budget cuts.
Oncology organizations have urged their members to support the Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2013 (H.R. 1416), which would eliminate sequestration cuts for physician-administered Medicare Part B drugs. At press time, the bill had 108 cosponsors. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the legislation in June. The legislation has not moved since then.
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