The national institutes of health and their sponsorship of clinical trials

Abstract

During 1987, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) celebrated their 100th anniversary. The NIH constitute the principal biomedical research arm of the the United States Government. The 1985 NIH budget was $5.1 billion; that amount represent s less than 2% of total U.S. health costs [1]. The NIH began as the one-room Laboratory of Hygiene in the Marine Hospital on Staten Island, New York, which was primarily a bacteriological laboratory. When the Laboratory was moved to Washington, D.C., in 1891, its name was changed to the Hygienic Laboratory. In 1912, the Laboratory was designated as part of the Public Health Service, which was authorized to study and investigate diseases of man and conditions influencing propagation and spread of disease and to issue publications on these topics [2]. Research grants to be awarded to outside institutions were first authorized in 1918 to support the U.S. Army's fight against venereal disease. A total of $400,000 was authorized for extramural awards during that year [2]. An Act of Congress in 1930 transformed the Hygienic Laboratory to the National Institute of Health. The Act also created fellowships for the agency and authorized the U.S. Government to accept donations for use in studying diseases and their prevention and cure. Also in 1930, 92 acres of land that eventually became the nucleus of the present 306-acre NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, was donated to the government [2]. The Division of Research Grants was established in 1946 as part of the effort to promote research into diseases and impairments of mankind. In 1948 the National Institute of Health became the National Institutes of Health, consisting of the National Cancer Institute (created in 1937), the National Heart Institute, the National Institute of Dental Research, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Microbiological Institute, and the Experimental Biology and Medicine Institute. The NIH Clinical Center was opened in 1953 [1]. The NIH spent approximately 4% of its total budget on clinical trials between 1975 and 1979 [3]. The majority of these trials were funded through