NIH funding of COVID-19 research in 2020: a cross-sectional study.
BMJ Open
; 12(5): e059041, 2022 05 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1840580
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to characterise and evaluate the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) grant allocation speed and pattern of COVID-19 research.DESIGN:
Cross-sectional study.SETTING:
COVID-19 NIH RePORTER Dataset was used to identify COVID-19 relevant grants.PARTICIPANTS:
1108 grants allocated to COVID-19 research. MAIN OUTCOMES ANDMEASURES:
The primary outcome was to determine the number of grants and funding amount the NIH allocated for COVID-19 by research type and clinical/scientific area. The secondary outcome was to calculate the time from the funding opportunity announcement to the award notice date.RESULTS:
The NIH awarded a total of 56 169 grants in 2020, of which 2.0% (n=1108) wwas allocated for COVID-19 research. The NIH had a US$45.3 billion budget that year, of which 4.9% (US$2.2 billion) was allocated to COVID-19 research. The most common clinical/scientific areas were social determinants of health (n=278, 8.5% of COVID-19 funding), immunology (n=211, 25.8%) and pharmaceutical interventions research (n=208, 47.6%). There were 104 grants studying COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions, of which 2 grants studied the efficacy of face masks and 6 studied the efficacy of social distancing. Of the 83 COVID-19 funded grants on transmission, 5 were awarded to study airborne transmission of COVID-19 and 2 grants on transmission of COVID-19 in schools. The average time from the funding opportunity announcement to the award notice date was 151 days (SD ±57.9).CONCLUSION:
In the first year of the pandemic, the NIH diverted a small fraction of its budget to COVID-19 research. Future health emergencies will require research funding to pivot in a timely fashion and funding levels to be proportional to the anticipated burden of disease in the population.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Biomedical Research
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2021-059041
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