Limited Funding For Cures Acceleration Network Has Upside: Partnership Options
Executive Summary
Congressional appropriations provide $10 million for the new program to speed development of therapies for “high need” diseases and conditions, substantially less than the $100 million requested by NIH.
The minimal $10 million provided to the Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) is not a problem, according to National Institutes of Health Deputy Director for Science, Outreach and Policy Kathy Hudson.
“I’m okay that we have only $10 million,” she said in an interview, explaining that the matching grants and flexible research programs that come with CAN have yet to be designed.
CAN, which will be operated by NCATS, was created by the Affordable Care Act with a first-year budget of $500 million that did not materialize when Congress appropriated NIH funding in fiscal 2011. NIH pared the $500 million down to $100 million in a budget request to Congress for fiscal 2012, and now must make due with a tenth of that.
The CAN funds are intended to help drug and device makers develop products for “high need” cures. These are drugs or devices the NIH director determines are a priority for diagnosing, mitigating, preventing or treating any disease or condition and are unlikely to receive support in the commercial market in a timely fashion.
The CAN money can be awarded as grants, matching funds at a rate of $1 for every $3 provided by NIH, or flexible awards made through transactions other than a contract, grant or cooperative agreement (Also see "Health Reform 101: Cashing In On Hidden Financial Aid Provisions" - Pink Sheet, 5 Apr, 2010.).
NCATS must figure out “how are we going to run a matching grant program. How are we going to run a program that uses flexible research authorities. How are we going to use it to do things that couldn’t be done otherwise. And that’s just not something that’s going to fall into place right away,” Hudson said.
Once the programs are in place, she is optimistic they can be copied in other areas. “I’m hoping that we will be able to create programs that are so innovative, and have such a high impact, that all of our constituencies will say ‘Wow! That’s great!’ and the ability to spend money in those interesting ways should be expanded.”
Ultimately, Hudson would like to use matching grants and flexible authorities outside CAN. “It seems like in this economic climate it is the perfect time to have people come together with shared goals to be able to put their best brains and best dollars behind shared priorities and this really allows the mechanism to do that.”