I have to admit, maintaining this RFA Ticker is a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. As the fiscal year winds down, and the RFAs slowly shrink in size and number, I keep asking “Will they or won’t they? Will they or won’t they?”
There are three weeks to go. Will they or won’t they get the RFA done for us in time?
- Total RFAs Issued by NIH: 321 (October 2015 to date)
- Total Dollars Committed to RFAs: $2,682,485,617 (October 2015 to date)
- Total RFAs for ME/CFS: ZERO (October 2015 to date)
| Week Beginning | RFAs Issued | Total Commitment | RFAs for ME/CFS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/5/16 | 3 | $6,250,000 | Zero |
| 8/29/16 | 8 | $11,250,000 | Zero |
| 8/22/16 | 5 | $14,300,000 | Zero |
| 8/15/16 | 16 | $130,685,000 | Zero |
| 8/8/16 | 13 | $137,053,000 | Zero |
| 8/1/16 | 9 | $30,900,000 | Zero |
| 7/25/16 | 5 | $128,556,617 | Zero |
| 7/18/16 | 3 | $17,950,000 | Zero |
| 7/11/16 | 10 | $75,855,000 | Zero |
| 7/4/16 | 0 | $0 | Zero |
| 6/27/16 | 3 | $12,971,000 | Zero |
| 6/20/16 | 1 | $2,000,000 | Zero |
| 6/13/16 | 5 | $21,475,000 | Zero |
| 6/6/16 | 5 | $7,100,000 | Zero |
| 5/30/16 | 4 | $6,900,000 | Zero |
| 5/23/16 | 8 | $42,400,000 | Zero |
| 5/16/16 | 2 | $7,800,000 | Zero |
| 5/9/16 | 11 | $32,100,000 | Zero |
| 5/2/16 | 8 | $32,485,000 | Zero |
| 4/25/16 | 4 | $7,500,000 | Zero |
| 4/18/16 | 10 | $42,230,000 | Zero |
| 4/18/16 | 10 | $42,230,000 | Zero |
| 4/11/16 | 4 | $6,825,000 | Zero |
| 4/4/16 | 8 | $27,000,000 | Zero |
| 3/28/16 | 13 | $161,000,000 | Zero |
| 3/21/16 | 1 | $2,700,000 | Zero |
| 3/14/16 | 5 | $23,650,000 | Zero |
| 3/7/16 | 9 | $82,710,000 | Zero |
| 2/29/16 | 1 | $1,890,000 | Zero |
| 2/22/16 | 9 | $30,100,000 | Zero |
| 2/15/16 | 4 | $26,500,000 | Zero |
| 2/8/16 | 5 | $9,500,000 | Zero |
| 2/1/16 | 8 | $26,000,000 | Zero |
| 1/25/16 | 4 | $9,300,000 | Zero |
| 1/18/16 | 2 | $4,500,000 | Zero |
| 1/11/16 | 10 | $71,200,000 | Zero |
| 1/4/16 | 0 | $0 | Zero |
| 12/28/15 | 0 | $0 | Zero |
| 12/21/15 | 3 | $10,260,000 | Zero |
| 12/18/15 | 5 | $20,260,000 | Zero |
| 12/11/15 | 27 | $765,090,000 | Zero |
| 12/4/15 | 6 | $26,600,000 | Zero |
| 11/27/15 | 4 | $21,000,000 | Zero |
| 11/20/15 | 15 | $134,400,000 | Zero |
| 11/13/15 | 2 | $16,100,000 | Zero |
| 11/6/15 | 10 | $22,850,000 | Zero |
| 10/30/15 | 7 | $49,800,000 | Zero |
| 10/23/15 | 10 | $33,200,000 | Zero |
| 10/16/15 | 0 | $0 | Zero |
| 10/9/15 | 13 | $332,450,000 | Zero |
If you want more background on the RFA Ticker, read the inaugural post.
No. And probably not next year either. It’s all talk, meetings, and reports. No money.
Hope you’re wrong, but likely you’re not.
Train wreck it’s been since the very beginning.
But whatever it is, maybe the tools weren’t there 30 years ago.
It does seem that some of the obvious stuff is only starting to get looked at now, and blaming the victims and calling them hypochondriacs and hysterics was an unnecessarily low blow.
I have felt GUILTY for being sick for so many of those years. I’ll never get back anything for that.
I wonder what the implications of the upcoming election are in terms of CFS related NIH activities. If the head of the NIH changes before an CFS RFA is issued what happens to the entire effort? I wonder how long it has taken in the past to translate an announced institutional research imperative into an actual RFA at the NIH.
Excellent questions, Marc. Since Dr. Whittemore will remain, and since NINDS has given clearance to the concept, I suspect this RFA will ultimately happen. Whether we get additional RFAs is very much in doubt. Depending on who is elected, and who is appointed to replace Dr. Collins, we could be starting from square one. Your point about how long announced imperatives take to be translated into actual RFAs/funding is a good one. I’m sure it varies, based on who created the imperative. The PMI and Cancer Moonshot have happened fast because they were supported/pushed by the White House. The ME/CFS “imperative” has been internal to NIH, so who knows.
I hope that we will have created some positive institutional inertia within the NIH with regards to CFS research funding that will last into the future (i.e. across changes in administrations). To always have to start at square one is a pretty depressing prospect – but I guess we are used to that.
Jennie, thank you for keeping up with the (lack of) RFA. Words are cheap, as this so clearly shows.