Subject: Re: As a cancer survivor so far this hits home
bighairymike: The unnecessary introduction of indirect is a way to mask the true intent of the expenditures such as the same LGBTQ non-sense we have seen.

Indirect funding maintains equipment and facilities and pays the support staff that keep labs functioning. In short, it's to pay the rent, the utilities, administrative salaries, office equipment and supplies and has nothing to do with the subject matter of a grant. Indirect funding accounted for about 26% of the grant money distributed last year.

The numbers are "soft" because they're often shared among research projects at a university or institution (for example, several different research projects may operate out of the same facility and share some of the facility expenses).

NIH grants are extremely good investments.

In 2023, NIH distributed about $35 billion through about 50,000 grants to over 300,000 researchers at universities, medical schools, and other research institutions.

Every dollar of NIH funding generated about $2.46 in economic activity.

For every $100 million of funding, research supported by NIH generates 76 patents, which produce 20% more economic value than other U.S. patents and create opportunities for about $600 million in future research and development.


bighairymike: See that word "ranging" in there. It allows for funding of every other disease known to man.

First, cancer research is the top area in which NIH grants are awarded.

Second, NIH grants are extremely hard to obtain. Only about 20% of applications succeed. Research proposals are evaluated first by a panel of scholarly peers and then, if they pass that level, go before an advisory council which might ask for additional information before awarding a grant.

Once awarded and accepted, an NIH grant carries strict requirements for reporting and auditing, as well as record retention.

Finally, this is an area of particular interest for me personally right now. I spent Christmas Eve in the hospital being biopsied and the pathology results were delivered by my physician the day after Christmas: metastatic stage 4 cancer, later cofirmed by PET scan. Surgery is not an option. Prior to this diagnosis, I had never felt better physically or emotionally in my life. I was strong, fit, and happy. The test score that referred me to a specialist was normal but it's change from a year ago was too high (the velocity of change). I was lucky my primary care physician flagged it and made the referral.

I began an aggressive multi-pronged treatment program and had my first of six rounds of chemotherapy ten days ago. If this aggressive treatment plan is successful, I have a 62% chance of being alive in 5 years. So, a coin toss. Currently, there is no cure.

My only hope of long-term survivability is successful cancer research. Period.

Your eagerness to condemn me and people like me to death because you falsely believe that indirect funding somehow makes it's magical way into LGBTQ or transgender "leftist agenda" research and the thunderous applause heard from the right for capping the permitted amount of indirect funding at a crippling 15% is -- given the economic data provided above -- disheartening at best.


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