AIDS Vaccine Panel Discussion [Minutes]

7-APR-97 PACHA AIDS VACCINE PANEL DIscussION - p. 17

MR. FOGEL: So it was $40 million with plus-ups, went down to $9 million, and it's going
back up to $20 million?
DR. McNEIL: Actually, it has just continually dropped, because we've gotten plus-ups all
along. Even when our core budget was $40 million, we were getting plus-ups from
Congress. So the program has dropped from a $50-plus million program a year to
about a $20 million program a year.
DR. LEVINE: Scott?
DR. HITT: Actually, two questions. One is to Dr. Paul. You said that you expect that
possibly Congress might augment some of the request for next year. If you were at a
congressional panel and they said, "We want to give you a little bit more money for
vaccines," there's a potential that could be spent, then, right?
DR. PAUL: Scott, may I reply? I didn't say I expect, I said Congress might choose to do
that. I don't want to predict what the Congress will do at all, but in the event that the
congressional budget exceeded the President's request, there are opportunities in
vaccine research -- and there are opportunities elsewhere, I should add, because as you
know, we have responsibilities for a vast range of research, which all have important
implications for people who are already infected. I don't want to imply that some of
those resources would not go in that direction as well, but we would anticipate the
vaccine program would receive additional resources in the event additional resources
were made available.
DR. HITT: We hear kind of the community debate a little bit is that if there was additional
money -- let's say the President was to say we're going to spend another $50 million
this year on vaccine development. Is NIH saturated with where science is today on
how they could spend that money, or would there be a way of funding further down the
pipeline right now, or is that it we need more additional money in the future, not today?
That's kind of the debate we were hearing out there, and I wasn't sure --
DR. PAUL: Well, our position is that more resources could be well spent today, but what
would be the most valuable would be to see a funding stream that we could plan for
over a period of years, the goal being, of course, to be certain that all the resources are
used as wisely as possible. Nonetheless, if we had additional resources in fiscal year
1998, which starts October 1, there's no doubt that we would see they were well used.
I think Dr. Fauci would agree with me on that point, that there are many
opportunities for additional resources to be used in the coming year.
DR. LEVINE: If there are no more questions, let me ask one, which is, Dr. Paul, if the goal
of a coordinated approach was felt to be wise by NIH -- obviously, as you chose Dr.