STATEMENT: The American Biosecurity Initiative Calls for a Durable, Streamlined NIH Research Pipeline

Jennifer A. Crook, executive director of the American Biosecurity Initiative, released the following statement following reports of a potential Executive Order awarding oversight of NIH grants to the Office of Management and Budget.

“ABI supports a durable, streamlined NIH research pipeline. The NIH pipeline is an American national security advantage and the foundation for discovering the next generation of cures, built over decades of aligning talent, research, funding, and bipartisan policymaking between Congress and past Administrations.

“Furthermore, it is critical that the NIH grant-making process continues without interruption and with consistency. As has been done for decades, we call on the current Administration and Congress to work together on a solution that guarantees robust funding for NIH research projects, ensures regulatory consistency, and makes certain America’s talent can best innovate in America’s biomedical ecosystem. 

“Through NIH and world-class academic research institutions, American talent and ingenuity come together to solve the most pressing healthcare issues of our time. We need more research funding, not less, because it will make America safer, stronger, and better equipped to treat diseases now and in the future.

“ABI exists because access to vital medicines is a national security imperative. Americans deserve the best medicines in the world, and today the country cannot secure that access without relying on a strategic competitor. America must prioritize national security policies across the board to further extend our nation’s global biopharmaceutical leadership—before it’s too late.

“During my 20-year career in national security, I watched other countries treat strategic industries as national security assets and organize a generation of policy to secure that leverage. America must bring the same seriousness to its medicines before an unforeseen crisis, like COVID-19, arrives. America still has a narrow window to act, and we must close the gaps before a crisis hits.”