It’s pretty simple. Private corporations won’t do research that doesn’t have (nearly) immediate profits. We need publicity funded research to take on the hardest long term studies.
The insidious thing is that the real damage will come years down the road. Pharma can keep developing "me too" drugs, but with basic research funding cut off, there will be no breakthroughs coming out of the U.S. once those currently in the pipeline are out.
Yet the pharmaceutical companies claim they need to charge exorbitant prices so they can develop new drugs. Bullshyt. The spend more on advertising, marketing and executive compensation than they spend on research, and most of the research they do is market research.
typically government funds and also collaborated with the basic science/benchtop work and then private comes in to do the scale up. academia and government researchers together lead to massive breakthroughs and private industry profits
Rather than shrinking away from science, 4whatever idiotic reason we r doing that, let's put hooks in the grants w royalties on commercialization. It's done when licensing tech out of one of the universities. It can be done, we did something like this on some tech out of Brookhaven Labs years ago.
Mark -- We need you in the Shadow Cabinet. Can you please push @kenmartin.bsky.social to set up a Shadow Cabinet with you as the Shadow Secretary of Commerce? Dems don't understand that we need a new strategy and different tactics to win this fight.
This is a fundamental problem with MAGA. They have no concept of how government funded infrastructure is the bedrock of American success and prosperity.
Taking away NIH funding not only makes us less safe because it slows down research & development of new drugs, but also undermines America's competitive advantage in medical & all other peripheral practices. Donald's deliberately doing what an enemy would do. https://youtu.be/yVK75OHqDXo
Enabled by the heritage foundation. Project 2025 is just getting started, it gets worse and right now it’s devastating. I think they want 50 small countries.
The NIH is the foundation for medical and scientific research funding. Without it there won’t be research, EXCEPT for the privately funded. You know, the kind where the big pharma companies do “research” on their own drugs. How could that be a conflict?
Death Panels - that’s the plan. On every front, he wants to kill Americans. From not providing safe foods to gutting NIH to not testing for fecal material or poisons in the water to eliminating food programs for children (which also causes farmers to go bankrupt) Destroy destroy destroy.
If you are someone or know someone who has been harmed by DOGE please share your stories to our reddit page https://www.reddit.com/r/theactualharm/ you will find stories of actual harm and stories of actual hope and resources to get actual help, find more information at our website https://www.theactualharm.us/
Not only is this a demonstration of how very important the National Institute of Health is, it also demonstrates how ridiculous it is that our taxes pay to develop drugs and when they hit the market we pay more for them than any other country on the planet.
I think you will better understand how the system works if you read the “history” section of Wikipedia’s article on exenatide, the first GLP-1 drug. It takes you from NIH to the market.
It is great that we fund research to develop drugs/treatment modalities/diagnostics, otherwise they might not exist. But I have felt strongly for a long time that the government/taxpayers deserve a percentage of the profits from products that arise out of government funded research. 🔬 🧐
The profit model works much better for drug development than does a nonprofit one. History has shown that clearly. Enforcing price negotiations makes more sense.
For every $1 invested in NIH, we see $2.46 dumped back into our economy. We get thousands of jobs; new drugs, tests, and treatments; new products from innovation; and money into our communities. We the people benefit in many, many ways from the NIH.
That would be impossible to track. The amount of information from NIH funded research that we use for programs is extensive and encompasses sometimes dozens of institutions and hundreds of researchers, very difficult to track. Lower drug prices would make more sense.
Yep. We might be coming up with druggable targets, while the industry comes up with the drugs. Sometimes it works even better, and there's a drug (even a generic) which works on that target, which can be repurposed (off-label use).
excuse me I apologize if I'm a little behind but.... does this mean Trump is cutting the national institute of health?!
I mean I wouldn't be surprised at all... I wonder what he's not going to take away?
I agree and it’s a good thing to support global health. Unfortunately, anytime the US does something to help the globe Trump feels like US is getting ripped off.
Why do our natural resources get owned by private companies, that's our oil. Why do tax dollars pay for research and then a private company gets to make profits. Sounds like America's government is fucking over everyone who lives there
Not surprised in the least. Federal funding contributes to $billions to private sector profits, by allowing development in areas that companies might not want to invest money in. Basic research is highly lucrative, but highly risky, and companies are accountable to their stockholders and profits.
The economics of basic research as opposed to applied research, and why one requires the public investment in the other. If Americans were better educated in science, there would be more support for basic research in so many areas. It’s what can fuel our progress and our economy.
It is not just education. The question was literally, "Hey, you think we should put back in the felon that blew up the deficit, botched the pandemic, caused countless deaths, politicized everything, is threatening to be a dictator, cannot tell the truth, led an insurrection or the competent woman?"
We need more education, but it is the cesspool of propaganda networks infecting our society that is destroying it. The rich wield weapons that burn democratic order to fuel their lust for power and money, and you are now really beginning to see all the rotten decaying structure underneath the rust.
If American's were better educated we wouldn't have elected Trumsk. The dumbing down of our citizenry has been on the right's agenda for decades. An uneducated electorate can easily be primed for self destruction.
We need to amplify stories of patients having treatment stopped because of these cuts. People will die and they need to be remembered and shoved in these assholes’ faces
Let's also remember that Team Idiocy also cut the FDA as well.
Between these two, the USA will go from a top Bio/Pharma hub to zilch, further destroying the economy. Biopharma rev is predicted at about 510Billion for 2025.
Thank you Mr. Cuban. We should realize that cutting NIH funds will have very adverse outcomes. Even withdrawing from WHO and other organizations will have trouble. Elon Musk was highly disruptive. DJT is also highly disruptive.
We’re going to have to rely on other countries for medical research (and most other scientific work, frankly) for the foreseeable future. The GOP will quash all of it here.
The point here is not to demonize the grants for having not generated enough tax revenue, but to praise them for generating a great amount of economic activity and jobs.
You don’t think pharmaceutical and healthcare companies are raking in billions in profit? Did all $95B stay in the United States. I’m sure some of that went to salaries, but if We the People funded the research, We the People should get more of a benefit.
Quite the fallacy that innovation is the realm of business, it is seeded by government and academic research. Even within business, they claim the innovation of workers as their own, often denying them it's value. Short-term profit interests squelch true innovation
I imagine they think "oh, the drug companies develop the drugs", but this clearly shows that the NIH addresses biological mechanisms, which is more effective. Is there another way to keep the scientists here? Is there a doctor-scientist partnership that can be dreamed up?
Yes NIH research will, like many things, be missed. However these new drugs all have “side effects” that are worse than the underlying conditions. Why are soooo many new drugs appearing? Many for “diseases” that have been fabricated as well
I believe the Media and everyday Americans can work together to save our government. I have a writer/producer who can help me make the commercials, but we need to get good video clips of the televised lies. Would you happen to know the best way to find these news clips?
NIH is essential, not every drug FDA approves is. In fact, too many drugs have too little effect. Too much deviation in advertising vs label vs FDA filings
The 35th Legislative District seat is vacant due to the death of former State House Representative Matthew Gergely.
Pass it on so it reaches more voters please.
Growing up, I was aware of headlines about Britain's brain drain - the best and the brightest attracted to mainly the USA - perhaps Trump might precipitate an American brain drain - the UK and Europe could benefit.
Democrats move us forward. Republicans move us backward ( while they slide their hands into your wallets).
Bankrupting America while plundering its resources seems like a very conservative thing to do.
They are. Through the licenses that universities grant for the patents to these medical innovations. You will not see a lot of funding from this as licenses are dependent on success and a lot of promising drugs fail in clinical trials.
But I think your statement only applies if academia generates a compound because a process or pathway cannot be patented and any returns on compound go to university not NIH. I was thinking of what happens with Roche in Denmark but I am not versed in roadblocks here in US
Under NIH extramural funding, the university can claim the rights to the technology and patent it under Bayh-Dole. Under this law, the licensing revenue generated must go back to university research and the inventors themselves. Same is true for NIH intramural funding but money goes to NIH.
The challenge is these license are dependent on success in bringing a drug to market. There is so much failure in drug development that these big payments don't happen frequently.
I truly believe that the whole idea of anti-vax,is to get rid of what the First Felon and Muskrat,believe,is the surplus population.That is exactly why RFK jr. was hired,because he REALLY is against vaccines, and believes his own crazy ideas. Believe me, the people at the top are getting vaccinated.
In my role within the tech transfer field, I have a unique perspective on the journey of medical innovations from the university to market. It is an absolute certainty that pharma companies, will not pick up the costs for the foundational research needed to discover new medical breakthroughs.
Universities create startups to secure venture capital, derisk technology, and attract pharma acquisition, but this system is flawed. Over 18K startups since 1996. The solution is to increase NIH funding, not less. Many diseases get left behind in this market driven model.
Dan, Pharma is already motivated to share windfall payments with NIH/ universities funded by NIH. NIH/ University generated the intellectual property and hold the rights to the patent. You're correct that an established Pharma entity would not share equity, but some Pharma startups already do.
Mark, NIH and universities tech transfer offices retain a small royalty (and, in some cases, equity from startups) to help cover the gap in funding between technologies generated from basic research to the transfer of these assets to a commercial entity.
Tech Transfer offices fund this gap to de-risk the technology to garner commercial interest, support startup formation, and cover the immense costs of patents. Most offices are happy to break even on costs and get a new technology to the clinics. 100% gap cost coverage would give more flexibility.
FWIW ... no shortage of great ideas on how to reap transfer rewards ... but (as with so many ideas) odds of getting congressional approval = zero. Status quo works just fine for industry.
If you believe the government should be run “like a business” then it should behave like the world’s largest Venture Fund where the citizens are the investors. All Govt investments should get some type of return for the risk of taxpayer capital.
(Edited 3:57 PM via @skeetsapp.com)
Despite the loud insistence by ideologues like Musk, every study I’ve seen over the past few decades has found the same. Pharma runs the trials, but the actual drug discovery is funded by the govt and done by govt agencies and universities.
The patents & profits are just handed to our oligarchs.
That may be true, but Americans pay the highest prices for meds by far compared to any other country. Seems like we should get a break, or at least the pricing should be similar, maybe within 10% higher or lower around the world. Feels like we are getting squeezed and played for suckers.
In other countries, everybody needs health care insurance by law.
This makes the insurance cheaper, and since the group is bigger.
You have more power to make deals with big pharmaceutical companies.
Not that long ago, we started doing it on the EU level.
Which again dropped the price.
🤔
Agreed. I believe there are still ways to make our med pricing more inline with global pricing. At minimum, the gov should be allowed to negotiate pricing for all fed health care, i.e., Medicare, Medicaid. Our system doesn’t need to be exactly like Europe to reduce pricing. See costplusdrugs.
That is because everything in the US is about profits.
You confuse socialism with communism.
While those are completely different things.
They keep you dumb and unorganised.
Everybody looks out for themselves and not for each other.
So you are the easiest to take advantage of by big corporations.
You literally are, and it’s because of a very long and very concentrated campaign to scare Americans away from any sort of coherent universal healthcare system. Americans pay more for healthcare than any other developed country in the world, by a *huge* margin, and that’s really fucked up.
It’s all on the user end too, it’s pennies per person for all the research that’s being done.
I did the research once and compared what Texas and Ontario spend on healthcare. Per capita, it should be similar right? Texans individually pay 3x what people in Ontario pay and the state itself
pays 2x what Ontario does per capita from tax revenue, mostly property tax so it disproportionately hits property owners. This only really happens because Texas is completely unwilling to step up and say “hey, if you sell to Texas, you’re capping your prices” to pharma or insurance companies.
Lobbying. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act included HHS-CMS negotiations to lower prices. Started in 2024 with 10 most expensive. Each year would reduce another 10. CMS had 2 FY24 bids for monitoring compliance. Trump canceled everything, IRA and those contracts.
Because discovering the underlying biology for a drug is inexpensive. Turning that idea into an actual drug requires an entirely different skill set and is exponentially more expensive. We need both public and private funding to develop drugs.
Gutsick Gibbon (Erica) does a really good breakdown on why basic science is so important, mostly done in universities on grants.
It is the BASIS of applied science, which creates the products we use. Applied science wouldn't exist without it.
Let 'em die. That's what "good christians" would do. Says so in Leviticus.
(I wonder how many of those can tell me the final, and superseding, commandment that their imaginary friend ordered as reported by Matthew who was born after the model for the "friend" died?)
Mark, do you have any advice on an FDA approved cancer fighting drug, called Bizengri? Why is the government not allowing doctors to use it to treat Pancreatic Cancer patients who need it? I am hitting a dead end going through my US Representative.
See what happened in Post-Soviet Russia as the new democracy was looted by Putin and his KGB thugs. Our $Billionaire Oligarchs have wanted to do the same since the fall of Yeltsin.
My understanding, leaked by 1 cokehead spawn of an orange pig, is that after Don & his owner ruin the country fully & are hurting bad as Musk threatened, Trump will - CONTRACT OUT THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT!
And 1 guess who will be getting this contract worth trillions? THINK ABOUT THIS!
I mean, think about the ramifications of such a thing! Think what that means for the constitution, freedoms, and accountability!
NOW YOU KNOW! It never made sense to want to be the top turd of Shitland or spending an obscene amount of money to burn down & build up a way worse government.
Yikes! I'm joining the original conversation your comment is a part of. Last I checked, we're all agreeing. Did you really get butthurt assuming I didn't recognize rhetoric? Save it for Twitter. My 1st rude ego baby EVER on Bsky, Congrats! 👍
As a psychotherapist my reading of Trump and Musk’s motivation is not $$. It is delusions of omnipotence. They are inflated megalomaniacs who genuinely believe they alone have the capacity to save humanity from looming catastrophe & deserve our obeisance & gratitude. A “folie a deux”.
I agree with your analysis, but I still can't understand why they seem intent on destroying the government, and also very likely the economy, which is clearly affecting our status in the world.
Delusional thinking makes sense to the deluded and those who have succumbed to the shared delusion. Think Jonestown. 900 dead including children fed Cyanide by their moms.
Wow. The lack of depth on this comment is fascinating. He’ll be the one, once NOAA goes away, that will say “I remember when this info used to be free”.
And even though a majority of funding comes from pharma companies, the NIH funding that trains scientists to work at those companies is essential to drug companies and their employees.
Thanks for starting Cost Plus Drugs. I just purchased a 90 day supply of my anti-cancer drug Imatinib for under $100 (including shipping) from https://CostPlusDrugs.com. At the drugstore Imatinib is over $1900 for a 30 day supply.
Sorry Mark.
Your facts threaten to harsh
numerous people’s vibe surfing.
Luxuriating in Trump and Bobby’s
golden vibes is still a major thing.
We will have continual problems
over facts and data until the
jam jams itself out.
Soon~I hope🤓
It makes NO sense for our country to be destroying these departments/agencies. This government is pushing to make its people less healthy, setup to wipe out millions WHEN next pandemic hits.
People-stand up and scream, don’t take this!
My mother was set to participate in a cancer study that had to be cancelled due to NIH cuts. These cuts will harm countless people. If I saw Musk or Trump drowning, I wouldn't just not help, I would record it to enjoy later. They are evil men that deserve anything bad that happens to them.
Also, the retained patents and generated income for NIH. The US needed/ needs to stop funding/subsidizing any industry it doesn t retain IP in or get minimum return on investment. We constantly invest in big business and not people. Also, the MAHA guy is essentially speaking eugenics.
NIH funds basic research to discover how biology works before drugs can be developed and tested. In Shark Tank terminology, this is when the Sharks say, "It's too early, I'm out.". Nevertheless, the ROI for America is massive.
Exactly. Universities discover the medical innovations then form startups, startups derisk the technologies funded via venture capital, pharma acquire startups. The solution to this market-driven model is more NIH funding, not less.
Actually no the nih will publish their own papers on topics of their interest using drugs donated by pharmaceutical companies. They do not perform phase one through three clinical trials which are the ones required for approval. NIH is key for rare or unserved patient populations.
@mcuban.bsky.social on top of the health benefits, money spent by NIH is one of the best investments the government makes. For every $1 spent by NIH, $2.56 was generated in return and supported over 400,000 jobs.
💯 that's what he does best. I just wish I knew what to do about it. I keep hoping our vets and military will lead the charge, since they took an oath to protect our country from "all threats foreign AND ✨domestic✨" and they actually have gun skills that most civilians don't.
Believe this part where bring up; Ken Arrow and study of welfare economics and or the study of market failures.
The private sector isn't going spend tens of millions of dollars year in the hopes 10 20 years from now there might, emphasis on might, have product for commercial exploitation.
the American Heart Association, amongst others charitalbe organizations, also contributes to research support in terms of both operating funds and trainee support.
Private business cannot afford to do the kind in-depth research the govt supports, because it can take years, even decades to find a break thru. Business sector is not that altruistic. Plus greed leads abuse in too many cases.
Official position statement from the American Heart Association: "Enhance, protect and restore funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and secure prioritization of NIH funding for heart and stroke research."
Philanthopy definitely matters, but is a very small fraction of capital available for R&D in the US. These data are from the National Science & Technology Indicators (2025) and describes all fields of science, not biomedical science of biopharmaceuticals. https://ncses.nsf.gov/data-collections/national-patterns/2022-2023
Minimal compared to NIH though IMHO - will never fill that game - same for all the big disease foundations.. eg cystic fibrosis is loaded from Vertex deals
Take Netscape for example, the infamous Andreessen who started A16z, some would say that he stole the browser from years of research at NCSA, University of Illinois, yet they got away with millions and now drives the stupidity in Silicon Valley
The Internet was academia and the government. You can’t scale any of that without that collaboration. Of course, now, with a lot of tech bros getting into that space with privately funded research institutes will try to fill that gap. Not sure yet if that is good or bad.
NIH does the research to determine which drugs work then private industry only pays for the clinical trials for the ones they believe they can make a profit on.. Plenty of drugs don’t get made because there is no profit in it for them…😔
Republicans are under the spell of a PROFESSED PREDATOR incapable of empathy (without a capacity for shame, an even less regard for godliness.) He’s the cold GOP standard bearer for Republicans.
Evil is the new norm.
Better angels must keep speaking out. There’s more good in us than doom in them.
Thread:I sing GO AHEAD &hate yr neighborGo ahead&cheat friend.Do it in nameofJesus U can justify in end… he apologized. He whips out his sax (he was on his bikeME atpark w my dog) we bcome musicians again. He hugs me when I exit. Where do we go after trump? Guy said he loves trump IS DESTROYING GOVT
Yes of course! We are not dealing with normal people in this administration. We are dealing with people who want to destroy the country and everyone in it.
Join the fight for democracy! 🗳️ On Saturday, April 5, 2025, stand up against corruption and reclaim our voice. Join nation-wide protests & sit-ins in all 50 states. Let's make a difference together!
Gila monster venom research, funded by NIH, gave us GLP-1 drugs. The research started in the 1980s and took decades. That definitely would be cut in today’s climate.
What will we not have in the future? China certainly benefits in their pharmacological research efforts!
When you aren’t allowed to use “woman”, “women” “female”, “girl”, or “men & women” for any research funding or grant, the US will no longer lead research on anything.
But the orange buffoon doesn’t care, he‘ll be dead by the time US is going to face harsh and FULL backlash over all this wreckage he and his swamp are doing.
I take what's called an orphan drug, it's a drug that treats only one condition so it is not commercially profitable and without the NIH these medications would never be funded researched or approved. It literally saves my life every day.
We US taxpayers paid for the R&D which created that drug and so many others that are then sold to other countries for much less than we US taxpayers are forced to pay. We subsidize the profits drug companies are making.
This is a story the media has chosen to ignore for decades. Even when they
…bother to point out that prices of US drugs sold to other countries are much lower they don’t make it clear the high prices we pay make those bargains and profits possible.
the nih isn’t in a position to develop the drug. Many universities discover things too and their bench labs, but they have to work with Pharma to actually take the drug through all the phases. It has to go through and then to market. It’s not as simple as people think.
People, especially in this administration, want to push simple answers to complex problems. They rarely or never say anything in detail or anything that is greater then a sound bite
and one other thing I’d like to point out, people seem to think that those of us that worked in research had such cushy jobs. We didn’t. I had a 40 hour per week salary and I was usually working 80 hours a week. That didn’t advertise out very well! But I do it again.
Thanks for pointing this out. Grad students, postdoc, and technicians work crazy hours with very little pay. After 10+ more of training after college, make decent wage in a faculty position, but you are living grant cycle to grant cycle at a funding rate around 5%.
Exactly!
The people who are being fired did everything right to achieve the American Dream. They worked hard to get qualifications for a career that gave them a decent living and, bonus, served the community. To see them discarded like this should outrage all of us!!
But some drugs may be researched after they hit the market by NIH which could help further determine efficacy, safety, outcomes, risks and maybe even resukt in a black box warning, I would think?
And the box warning comes from the safety analysis and request from the agency. You just don’t put a black box in! Nobody wants that, but you have to highlight safety risks if they made a certain criteria. It’s all very interesting but it’s a hell of a lot of work.
Other countries don't let their people's health misfortunes be taken advantage of for profit in a privatized system. They don't allow the high prices we see. That's here because it's accepted and allowed in this country and have 0 to do with NIH.
I’m not blaming the NIH. I’m blaming the media for not making it clear to Americans that we taxpayers subsidize the drug companies and then get ripped of by being forced to pay much higher prices for those drugs we helped fund than people in other countries do. In effect we subsidize those cheap
…prices but most Americans don’t understand that because it’s a story the media generally avoids telling us.
I recently explained these facts to a MAGA family member who was complaining about the price of a drug she takes and she was shocked/appalled.
A lot of things are like this, even in education. The Dept of Ed does research that is used across the world, but since our education systems are localized it’s up to each state or district to apply the knowledge. Imagine if we expanded public services instead of eliminated them.
Maybe off topic..years ago my infant son could only have Isomil formula..I struggled to pay 7 dollars per can then I moved to Egypt..same formula equivalent cost 25 cents
Great example of a similar kind of story our media refuses to cover. Guess they’ve been too busy admiring rich CEOs and tech bros to bother. But they definitely haven’t been too busy to lecture liberals for supposedly not caring about ordinary “real” Americans. Talk about projection!
The thing that pervades this administration is cruelty. It’s almost like they want the sick, old and anyone who needs any kind of social services to die.
one of the advantages Pharma has is that they have large libraries of compounds that they can use for screening potential therapeutic targets. Once a research lab publishes a finding, its in the public domain and fair game for further development.
Yep, and charge thousands of times more than cost. Development is a false equivalency. Universities don’t advertise. Pharmaceuticals spend more on sales advertising than research
But only for narrow profit. Universities have these libraries too and they are in most cases available to companies to sponsor research. Strange that people see strength as a weakness. People fail to see the interdependencies of our world-leading research ecosystem. Pharma & unis are complementary.
I’ve built some very complicated and expensive screening systems in both academic labs and pharma, but my budgets look pretty paltry compared to the cost of a clinical trial.
The problem with private development is the developer can charge whatever they want. For innovations other than LIFE SAVING DRUGS capitalism works. We should he investing in health as a community, not encouraging price gouging
Seems like pharmaceutical companies would be raging against these cuts because now they will need to foot the bill for research previously funded by the taxpayers!!!
On the one side, they temporarily lose new product development. On the other side, all the price controls are removed, and they can charge $10,000 a month for insulin that has been off-patent for over a century.
I think it's the other way around. Without FDA controls, they don't have to do research anymore. Pharmaceuticals can just pretend whatever they want, and there won't be any pushback or control. Nobody will challenge their so-called findings 😳
As someone who works in a biopharmaceutical & performs studies that get submitted to the FDA, let me say this. We file for approval in every single region and global regulatory agencies. We don’t just apply in the USA. Our studies are designed to meet international regulatory standards.
FDA's accelerated pathway is what I refer to. Medication approved without evidence of efficacy or limited evidence of clinical benefit. FDA used to test and research similar products approved, but there is lots of lobbying. Not all companies are ethical, i.e., Forest Pharmaceuticals scandal.
They won’t do it because the cost would be overwhelming. The more likely scenario is that centers for basic research will move to other locations (eg China) and the US will lose its grip as a leader in healthcare innovation. Startups and other new businesses will be centered in other countries
Not to mention the necessary facilities & protocols, plus qualified medical, technical & administrative staff to find & properly screen potential patients then treat, test, monitor, document & assess all results from patients accepted into clinical trials, which are long & painstaking efforts.
Exactly! Private business cannot afford to do the kind in-depth research the govt supports, because it can take years, even decades to find a break thru. Business sector is not that altruistic. Plus greed leads abuse in too many cases.
Kenendy wants to do more vaccine research because he doesn't trust the extensive research that has already been done and while there's no money for other things, there will be money for that.
Drug companies say they have to charge high prices so they can develop drugs, which has been bs forever. Can’t even afford the drugs we helped to develop, but the big shots have large wallets. All Americans should have the same healthcare as the politicians- free
Aa an epileptic diabetic with family on transplant, heart, and cancer medication, also after losing my father to Alzheimer's, the NIH isextremely important to me
They probably did, but it was brought onto the market for end of life/terminal cancer patients to manage their pain. It then got abused for a purpose. It was never intended…. And that was big Pharma pushing it for every day pain… incentivizing doctors to prescribe it
NIH funded academia research is the lifeline and the intelligence source for the whole biotech/pharmaceutical industry. They are literally killing the entire industry.
So do I. There is no way we’re making it this first half and I’m so angry!! I have been doing this for 32 years and we have NEVER had funding cut like this. Maybe only a month delay
Say good-bye to being a leader in scientific and medical research! Our best and brightest will be heading to Europe and Asia to continue their pioneering work to improve medical outcomes.
Well, my experience is that it has always been very difficult to get any company to do work that doesn't contribute directly to next quarter's bottom line. That is one of the reasons governments exists, that is to plan for long term. I am not remotely shocked about this, though it is deeply sad...
It’s too bad the US doesn’t have someone such as yourself in politics, they drastically need someone with actual leadership and common sense along with business acumen to move ahead
“In this cross-sectional study of 356 drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration from 2010 to 2019, the NIH spent $1.44 billion per approval on basic or applied research for products with novel targets or $599 million per approval” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2804378
@mcuban.bsky.social This recent FB post was from my wife’s experience at NIH recently. She has the same rare disease that took our son. NIH is a national treasure.
The story of your family and NIH should have been promoted by leaders in gov't who believe it works for the people so Americans could better understand the benefits of these programs and how they impacted our lives directly and/or indirectly.
Same for NIH and their role in developing medications.
The outrage is starting to happen, but there’s not enough yet and I truly don’t think Trump supporters realize what’s happening because they’re not watching or listening to truthful news outlets.
Not enough Trump voters are realizing yet but a reaction has started and it’s already significant, which is why most Republicans in Congress have stopped doing town halls in their districts and those few who try are inundated with angry constituents. Right?
Thank you for highlighting this. I’ve worked in biomedical research for nearly 30 years, currently in compliance & I can’t believe what I’m seeing from this administration. Their families will be impacted too - lack of research means lack of treatments & techniques - it makes zero sense!
My grandfather was a doctor (WWII GI-bill recipient!) and explained that the cost of medication development is in research. After that, the materials for manufacturing a single drug can vary significantly, ranging from a few cents to several dollars. However, consumers pay wildly inflated prices.
When we put the NIH back together, we need to address the fact that our tax dollars fund drugs that we then have extraordinarily financial hurdles to individually access them.
NIH tried to institute march-in rights for intramural funded research in the 1990s and it failed. Pharma did not want the uncertainty of these strings attached, so many of these promising new drugs failed to go to market because pharma did not want to license them from the NIH.
You don't want to provide limitations at the point of innovation as it adds risk on top of risk. Instead, dealing with Pharmacy Benefit Managers and ensuring the sharing of some of these costs overseas is the solution. If NIH were to fund more of the research and development, this could also help.
Thank you for amplifying this point. Pharma companies go to extremes to protect their patents—and their profits—while giving no credit to the publicly funded institutions who did the hard prerequisite work. Universities move the ball 99 yards and pharma takes all the credit with the last few inches.
Pharma contributes way more than you think (science side) and takes the largest part of investment risks.
Also, as an academic, I've always taken credit for projects of drug development with private partners (n=2).
And as a private company employee, I always gave credit, when/where credit was due.
So, ~1:1 in investment and not a word about royalties paid to academia, or research investments*, would be correctly described by "Universities move the ball 99 yards and pharma takes all the credit with the last few inches." 🤔 NOT
e.g. BioNTech to NIH $791.5 M and $467 M to Penn, SARS2 vaccine
That’s one. Are there more? Is this a growing trend? I ask that hopefully, because that would be a good trend, especially with the cuts happening lately.
That's one I found easily because it's recent.
If it's a trend, it's been ongoing at least since the late 80s*, when I first was implicated in that kind of schema. Since at both sides.
Trump is eliminating every agency and safety precaution in place that would prevent a dictatorship. Where are our military and secret service with the knowledge to put together a military coup and oust this dangerous felon? A covert operation is desperately needed.
Cause once the years of research is done, big pharma companies copy the findings then buys patents so they can jack up prices to the consumers. All the more reason we don’t want govt running like a business!!
First it's the universities and researchers that get the patents from taxpayer-funded research, thanks to the 1980 Bayh–Dole Act. They then spin off start-up companies that are then bought by large pharma companies.
This is good info. The chain of custody on those buys should continue to pass as a percentage of that company’s purchase price as rebates back to the public source for reinvestment and discounts to the end purchaser.
What if we put signs in drugstores sharing this? Any "brave" pharmacies could put slips into the prescription packets about the benefits of funding NIH and what's lost when it's cut.
Short of any company involvement, why not station people in front of pharmacies in red areas sharing this info?
I’m pretty sure He, They, Them really didn’t pay attention in science, math, history or any other class that required you to actually study! Once school got beyond trying to color within the lines they gave up and stared out the windows.
and every single dollar Musk Industries has made is built on a LONG foundation of government investment - i.e., PUBLIC investment; that would be the investment Musk is now systematically dismantling.
There’s a wider conversation to be had about drug pricing here. But yes. Drugmakers piggyback off of publicly funded research and it is VITALLY important!
I absolutely agree. However one obvious fix for lowering drug prices is to allow medicare and medicaid to negotiate drug prices. Those two entity's are probably the largest consumers. It is my understanding that congress disallowed that practice. Why? Lobbyists, big money, campaign contributions
Sorry, I misspoke Yes, under Pres. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is now authorized to negotiate drug prices for certain high-cost, single-source drugs, with the first negotiated prices taking effect in 2026. Although, Biden also cut Insulin price dramatically which not single source.
Agree. Another obvious low hanging fruit is all of the annoying, direct-to-consumer commercials and print ads. They drive up cost and also contribute to the negative public sentiment about “big pharma”
It does make one wonder why the cost of the drugs is so high then. Is it to pay for millions of drug commercials in print/electronic media? Since the doctors who prescribe already have that information, it seems like a giant campaign to pressure doctors by creating panic and false hope in patients.
If taxpayer dollars contributed to the development of any pharmacuticle or treatment then taxpayers should get a say in the price. That seems only fair.
It's only a one way street in America. The people benefiting from a private corporation's profits would be socialism and we don't do that here.
But those that own the corporations must always benefit from the taxpayers dollar.
Great data Mark. The collective data strongly suggests the TRUMP/Musk/DOGE "cost cutting" has highly negative ROI and risks associated with them - Air Traffic, Nat'l Parks, USAid, Consumer Finance Protection, SSN. Demonstrates no winning plan or end state. Just slash & burn & chaos.
The idiots have taken over. These people don't care about anything other than "Owning The Libs". Owning the people who have given them a better healthier life. It was on full display with the interview of the parents of the 6 year old child who recently passed from the measles unnecessarily.
It's not just the NIH and drugs. It's every major technology advancement in this country over the past 40+ years has in some way been touched or influenced by government research, including the Internet.
There is science being done that forms the basis of the knowledge we need to be able to identify molecules or biologicals that can counteract/prevent disease. This is not glory work, this is the foundation upon which other work will build. This is long term stuff. POTUS isn't interested in long term
Why do US Citizens need to finance the research for companies that are profiting BILLIONS. These companies are more than financially capable of financing their own research
Comments
This is especially true in biomedical research.
Yeah, the NIH is so important!😂😂😂
For every $1 we spend on tax enforcement we get $5 back.
This is also why the GOP wants to kneecap the IRS ... AND pass a big, beautiful tax break.
I mean I wouldn't be surprised at all... I wonder what he's not going to take away?
Beyond drug dev, research supports of global health.
Ignoring the stats on recalled drugs, researched with grants from NIH, is an issue. The FDA isn't a saintly organization. Not by a long stretch.
https://www.lightfootlawdc.com/blogs/fda-drug-recall-statistics/
Between these two, the USA will go from a top Bio/Pharma hub to zilch, further destroying the economy. Biopharma rev is predicted at about 510Billion for 2025.
(Obviously sarcasm—these claims are false.)
He also didn't bother to put his money where his mouth is and outspend Musky who with a hail Mary of ad buys bought the election for Trumpy.
These 3 are pals.
Mark cosplays as a progressive
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/03/12/nih-grants-fueled-95-billion-in-economic-activity-finds-new-report/
I believe the Media and everyday Americans can work together to save our government. I have a writer/producer who can help me make the commercials, but we need to get good video clips of the televised lies. Would you happen to know the best way to find these news clips?
The 35th Legislative District seat is vacant due to the death of former State House Representative Matthew Gergely.
Pass it on so it reaches more voters please.
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Government/Elections/Special-Election
Bankrupting America while plundering its resources seems like a very conservative thing to do.
They haven't needed to historically - so would need some motivation (legislation?) - to change that - no?
And it's kinda chaotic over there right now - figuring out lawsuits, grants, and headcount ;-(
(Edited 3:57 PM via @skeetsapp.com)
The patents & profits are just handed to our oligarchs.
&
Neither does that loudmouth redhead #DumpsterFire he has tagging along
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/14/australian-university-sector-accuses-trump-administration-of-blatant-interference-in-research
And they can ask whatever they want for it.
That is how it works around the world.
This makes the insurance cheaper, and since the group is bigger.
You have more power to make deals with big pharmaceutical companies.
Not that long ago, we started doing it on the EU level.
Which again dropped the price.
🤔
You confuse socialism with communism.
While those are completely different things.
They keep you dumb and unorganised.
Everybody looks out for themselves and not for each other.
So you are the easiest to take advantage of by big corporations.
I did the research once and compared what Texas and Ontario spend on healthcare. Per capita, it should be similar right? Texans individually pay 3x what people in Ontario pay and the state itself
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-20/labor-coalition-vow-pbs-safe-tariff-trump-war/105074484
It is the BASIS of applied science, which creates the products we use. Applied science wouldn't exist without it.
(I wonder how many of those can tell me the final, and superseding, commandment that their imaginary friend ordered as reported by Matthew who was born after the model for the "friend" died?)
Revenge
Money for themselves
Power for themselves
Making sure the government never serves the people
I know its difficult to fathom this much evil. Calling children, disabled, senior citizens parasites is pure evil.
And 1 guess who will be getting this contract worth trillions? THINK ABOUT THIS!
NOW YOU KNOW! It never made sense to want to be the top turd of Shitland or spending an obscene amount of money to burn down & build up a way worse government.
This (plus Bird Flu etc. we Captain Brainworm in charge of thr CDC) is going to make Covid look like a practice run!
"But we don't need NIH . . We can get our drugs from big pharma!"
SpongeBob?
Hmm, must be JD Vance's job
Your facts threaten to harsh
numerous people’s vibe surfing.
Luxuriating in Trump and Bobby’s
golden vibes is still a major thing.
We will have continual problems
over facts and data until the
jam jams itself out.
Soon~I hope🤓
People-stand up and scream, don’t take this!
Course, the same is true of every military & commercial passenger/cargo aircraft. etc...
Heck, NASA tech spinoffs are worth *Trillions* of dollars.
The NIH is good for our health, it’s good for science, it’s good for communities, it’s good for our economy.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
this destruction of America’s scientific knowledge and creativity.
The private sector isn't going spend tens of millions of dollars year in the hopes 10 20 years from now there might, emphasis on might, have product for commercial exploitation.
Maybe we should get rid of the pharmaceutical companies and keep the NIH
Evil is the new norm.
Better angels must keep speaking out. There’s more good in us than doom in them.
What will we not have in the future? China certainly benefits in their pharmacological research efforts!
This is a story the media has chosen to ignore for decades. Even when they
The people who are being fired did everything right to achieve the American Dream. They worked hard to get qualifications for a career that gave them a decent living and, bonus, served the community. To see them discarded like this should outrage all of us!!
I recently explained these facts to a MAGA family member who was complaining about the price of a drug she takes and she was shocked/appalled.
That’s where the co-operation ends and obscene profits begin….
Cutting at the wrong end
Are you British, ‘cause that was a classic understatement!
Pharmaceutical companies are 💯 % CORRUPT
(It has a correction: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43441-022-00461-6)
It argues they're already footing the bill... by focusing on FY 2000, 21 years prior to publication.
Sure you can take over(I mean no you can’t but let’s play pretend) the development of new drugs- who is going to be doing all of this research?
Used to treat sick people
Many of whom are poor,non white, not American born
trump : ''why are we keeping these people alive'' ?
Same for NIH and their role in developing medications.
Being vocal is our super power!
Don't comply, don't be silenced!
Also, as an academic, I've always taken credit for projects of drug development with private partners (n=2).
And as a private company employee, I always gave credit, when/where credit was due.
Private and public spending is roughly equivalent. I will leave the implications up to the reader.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10148199/#:~:text=Funding%20from%20the%20NIH%20was,for%20applied%20research%20on%20products.
e.g. BioNTech to NIH $791.5 M and $467 M to Penn, SARS2 vaccine
If it's a trend, it's been ongoing at least since the late 80s*, when I first was implicated in that kind of schema. Since at both sides.
* I suppose it was like that way before my years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act
Although I never watched either show, I'm guessing that Shark Tank and The Apprentice never had much in common. https://justweighing.com/
Short of any company involvement, why not station people in front of pharmacies in red areas sharing this info?
Trump own this: Only the Best
Cut NIH research grants. Check
Cull the population. Check
ARPANET was a publicly funded project. That became the internet.
The NIH was essential to building the modern medicine of today.
What started in the American public sector become contributions to the world.
I feel so sad writing this out. So proud and so heartbroken. Look at how we were. And now it’s gone.
But those that own the corporations must always benefit from the taxpayers dollar.
How can we, as mere citizens, help this government get it done if we don't really get it yet?
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/financialization-us-pharma-industry
Government and dedicated research institutions are the best vehicles for expressing these intentions.
https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/list-institutes-centers
We cannot afford to lose this valuable information.