Have you heard the expression “Go big or go home?” That is the perfect description of last week’s RFA totals. NIH only issued one RFA last week, but it was a big one. The set aside funding of $28,750,000 more than doubled the funding NIH has dedicated in FY2017 so far.
I am very confident that you will not be surprised when I tell you this single RFA was not related to ME/CFS. We’re still waiting on that. And that single RFA of $28 million was about four times more than all of the money spent by NIH on ME/CFS last year.
Here are the cumulative numbers:
| FY 2017 | FY 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| RFAs Issued | 9 | 352 |
| Dollars Committed | $51,837,00 | $2,840,680,617 |
| RFAs for ME/CFS | ZERO | ZERO |
And here is the table for FY 2017 alone.
| Week Beginning | RFAs Issued | Total Commitment | RFAs for ME/CFS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/10/16 | 1 | $28,750,00 | Zero |
| 10/3/16 | 9 | $23,087,00 | Zero |
If you want more background on the RFA Ticker, read the inaugural post.
My tax dollars at work (disabled people pay taxes) – but not for me.
I want an accounting!
Seriously, this pattern is starting to annoy me. FY 2016 was useless.
What do we expect? Some of that modern science they keep telling us is so wonderful. Meanwhile, they make access to necessary pain meds a lot harder for vulnerable people, and spend money on things with big PR, but small incremental benefit.
May I ask what illness was so lucky to receive all that funding?
It did not go to a single illness, but to the development of modeling systems:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TR-16-017.html
Gotta keep all those federal employees occupied. They are the first priority, not suffering patients.
So it seems that the RFAs will be published in Dec 2016.
In the meantime NIH has posted 2 Notices of Intent about the upcoming RFAs.
“Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for a Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC) to facilitate and coordinate research in the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Collaborative Research Centers (ME/CFS CRC). ”
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-17-004.html
and
“Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for research on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The FOA will invite applications for ME/CFS Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs).”
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-17-003.html
Both notices say that the earliest start dates would be Sept 2017.
What does this mean? https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-17-003.html
I’ll write up an explanation as soon as I can.
That’s fine. I see it’s probably what you’ve spoken about prior, for infrastructure towards centers of excellence…but not necessarily towards getting research going ASAP. For some reason when I looked prior to leaving my comment the one right above mine didn’t show up. On mobile web.