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Federal investment in psoriasis research fell during decade of massive increases in other biomedical research
By Michael Paranzino, first published January 1, 2005. Figures updated with the latest information, March 11, 2005.
Congress made forward-thinking and historic investments in biomedical research over the last decade that will continue to improve public health for many years to come. Unfortunately, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients missed out on these massive increases in research funding.
Over the last ten years, funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) increased 99%, even after inflation, while psoriasis research funding at NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) decreased 8%.
Let’s not mince words. During the biggest increase in medical research funding in world history, psoriasis research funding completely missed out.
This is a tragedy for the six and a half million Americans with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis. Nearly $33 million that could have brought patients new and better treatments for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis was “lost” during this decade, as psoriasis funding languished while other research funding exploded.
In other words, if psoriasis research funding had merely kept pace with research on other diseases over the last decade, nearly $33 million in additional funding would have already been invested in psoriasis research.
What treatments have NOT been discovered or advanced because of this massive shortfall? We may never know.
As it stands, the federal government currently spends one dollar per patient annually on psoriasis research. That’s about the cost of one once of Beef Jerky at the local convenience store.
The federal government spent a total of $6.5 million on psoriasis research funding last year. Meanwhile, the government spent more than $28 BILLION on other medial research. (The government also funded the Lawrence Welk museum and spent $4 million on public transit for a city with 15,000 residents, so it is clearly not strapped for cash.) There are six and a half million Americans with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis.
Given that psoriasis costs the U.S. economy an estimated $2+ billion annually, this is not only a human tragedy, it is poor economic policy.
Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients pay taxes like other Americans. If they want their fair share of federal investments in medical research, they must end their passivity and begin to be heard in Washington, DC.
Click here to get involved.
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Data from the National Institutes of Health and Psoriasis Cure Now.
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