key: cord-0266080-dfk1vqvd
authors: Balaguru, L.; Dun, C.; Meyer, A.; Hennayake, S.; Walsh, C.; Kung, C.; Cary, B.; Migliarese, F.; Dai, T.; Bai, G.; Sutcliffe, K.; Makary, M. A.
title: NIH Funding of COVID-19 Research in 2020: a Cross Sectional Study
date: 2021-12-11
journal: nan
DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.08.21267482
sha: 17dee1af520a9400e12996c224752f380dbe9f0f
doc_id: 266080
cord_uid: dfk1vqvd

Objective: This study aims to characterize and evaluate the NIH grant allocation pattern of COVID-19 research. Design: Cross sectional study Setting: COVID-19 NIH RePORTER Dataset was used to identify COVID-19 relevant grants. Participants: 1,108 grants allocated to COVID-19 research. Main Outcomes and Measures: 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=1,108) were allocated for COVID-19 research. The NIH had a $42 billion budget that year, of which 5.3% ($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.

grants that funded COVID-19 research in 2020, we used the NIH's pre-generated COVID-19 93 RePORTER dataset. 7 The information describing 2020 NIH funding by research was found on 

In 2020, COVID-19 research accounted for 5.3% ($2.2 billion) of the annual NIH budget 111 of $41.7 billion. 19 Of the $2.2 billion that the NIH spent on COVID-19 research, 86.5% was 112 allocated from congressional special appropriations while the remaining 13.5% of COVID-19 113 funding originated from the regular NIH annual budget that year. We found that several disease 114 and condition-specific research areas were funded at levels much greater than COVID-19 ( Figure   115 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this this version posted December 11, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.08.21267482 doi: medRxiv preprint transmission of the novel coronavirus in 2020, the NIH only spent 5.3% of their total budget that 160 year on COVID-19 research, extending prior literature that that NIH funding priorities The social and political climate of the COVID-19 pandemic has been plagued with 181 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. We thank Farah Hashim, Jonathan Teinor, and Karashini Ramamoorthi for their contribution in 231 preparing this manuscript. 232 233 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this this version posted December 11, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.08.21267482 doi: medRxiv preprint preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this this version posted December 11, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101 https://doi.org/10. /2021 preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

The copyright holder for this this version posted December 11, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101 https://doi.org/10. /2021 

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