More NIH grants awarded – fight on the plague and leprosy continue

NIH continues to do its part of allocating funding from stimulus money…Some of it seems excessive.  Nearly $8 million to bail out a drug company?  And only $22 million to IUPUI out of $5 billion?  Good to see investment in start-ups but funding for ways to study spread of rabbit fever, the plague and leprosy?

The Indianapolis Business Journal (10/1) reported researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI) "have been awarded more than $22.3 million in grants by the National Institutes of Health, according to US Rep. Andre Carson (D-Indianapolis)." The money "is part of a $5 billion program that was part of the federal stimulus bill approved earlier this year, and will fund medical research across the country." IUPUI "received 67 grants in all, which will fund research on heart disease, autism, HIV/AIDS, H1N1 flu and cancer, among other areas, according to Carson." One Indianapolis-based start-up, Indiana Nanotech LLC, "will receive $100,000 to support its experimental products in dentistry and orthopedics."

The Coloradoan (10/1, Hughes) reported that Colorado State University (CSU) scientists, "seeking solutions for problems ranging from childhood obesity to the plague, will share about $7.3 million in federal stimulus funds announced by President Barack Obama on Wednesday." Additional grants will underwrite researchers who are looking for "ways to fight the spread of rabbit fever and the plague, make improvements to the university's bio-research laboratory, study leprosy and examine how radiation alters genetic material."

The San Francisco Business Times (10/1) reported, "Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc., which had all but shut down after the rejection of two drugs last year, won a $7.6 million National Institutes of Health economic stimulus grant to fund a second late-stage trial of its opioid addiction treatment."

The Baltimore Business Journal (10/1, Dash) reported Johns Hopkins University "has won $145 million in stimulus-related research grants from the federal government, a vice dean for the school said Thursday." Of that money, "about three-quarters have been awarded to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said Dr. Chi Dang, the school's vice dean for research." The awards "include a $10.4 million grant, shared with the University of Southern California, to study genetic changes in cancer cells.