Annual job years and job expenses connected with NIH-funded PMIDs 2000-2019. Credit: © Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University
Broad structure of NIH-funded research study for making it possible for innovations prior to pandemic supplied a tool set for quick advancement of COVID vaccines.
The unmatched advancement of COVID-19 vaccines less than a year after discovery of this infection was made it possible for by more than $17 billion of research study on vaccine innovations moneyed by the NIH prior to the pandemic, according to brand-new research study from Bentley University’s Center for Integration of Science and Industry. The post, entitled “NIH funding for vaccine readiness before the COVID-19 pandemic,” shows the crucial function this broad structure of government-funded research study plays in making sure vaccine preparedness.
The report, released today (April 22, 2021) in the journal Vaccine, took a look at the maturation of research study and NIH financing for 10 innovations that were used in prospect COVID-19 vaccines since July 2020. The maturation of these innovations was explained in 51,530 released research study documents from 2000-2019, of which 8,420 (16%) acknowledge NIH financing amounting to $17.2 billion. Some of these innovations have actually been utilized effectively in vaccines considering that the mid-20th century. Others, such as the viral vectors utilized in the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, emerged from genetic modification in the 1980s, and were discovered to be developed prior to 2010. Still others, consisting of the mRNA innovations utilized by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, just just recently reached a recognized point.
“Rapid development of COVID vaccines was only possible because companies had access to a tool kit of established technologies,” stated Dr. Fred Ledley, Director of the Center for Integration of Science and Industry. “Some of the most recent technologies, including mRNA and viral vectors, proved to be particularly suitable for COVID-19 and the timelines required to combat this pandemic. The substantial public sector investments over the past 20 years that went into the maturation of these technologies needs to be considered in the pricing of these products and their availability to the public.”
“This study also found surprisingly little NIH-funded, published research on vaccines for recognized pandemic threats, such as coronavirus, Zika, Ebola, or dengue virus,” stated Dr. Anthony Kiszewski, lead author of the research study and Associate Professor of Natural & Applied Science at Bentley University. “Mechanisms need to be developed for funding research on vaccine technologies that accelerate vaccine development against emergent threats and preempt future pandemics.”
Reference: “NIH funding for vaccine readiness before the COVID-19 pandemic” by Anthony E. Kiszewski, Ekaterina Galkina Cleary, Matthew J. Jackson and Fred D. Ledley, 22 April 2021, Vaccine.
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.03.022
Dr. Anthony Kiszewski was the lead author on this work in addition to Dr. Ekaterina Galkina Cleary, Dr. Matthew Jackson and Dr. Fred Ledley. This work was supported by a grant from the National Biomedical Research Foundation.
