The budget for the new agency, to be called Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), is part of the $51 billon proposed for the NIH. This will be submitted to the US Congress, which has authority to appropriate federal spending.

With an initial focus on cancer and other diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s, the major investment in federal level R&D research and development would drive transformational innovation in health research and speed its application, the proposal document says.

Modeled on two existing research agencies, the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency, the new biopharma innovation agency would become one of the NIH's largest bodies and be equal in size to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute.

Following the Trump administration’s sidelining of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), effectively tying its hands in fighting Covid-19, Biden’s budget request also includes $8.7 billion for the public health agency – $1.6 billion more than the 2021 enacted level. This, reports said, represents the largest budget authority increase plan in nearly two decades. The fresh cash would go toward modernizing public health data collection, training new epidemiologists and other public health experts, along with building international capacity to detect, prepare for and respond to global public health threats.

The new administration is also seeking an investment of $10.7 billion, a rise of $3.9 billion over the 2021 enacted level, to support research, prevention, treatment and recovery support services related to the ongoing US opioid epidemic.                   

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist