I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7544 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to require reporting by the National 

Institutes of Health on requests for funding research that were not 

granted and had the greatest potential for improving public health, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2020 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to require reporting 

by the National Institutes of Health on requests for 

funding research that were not granted and had the 

greatest potential for improving public health, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Missed Opportunities 

5 in Public Health and Biomedical Research Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Biomedical research sponsored by the Na2 tional Institutes of Health (refered to in this section 

3 as the ‘‘NIH’’) provides numerous treatments and 

4 discoveries that improve and save lives, defend the 

5 Nation against bioterrorism and emerging 

6 pandemics, strengthen the national economy, and 

7 support the next generation of researchers in the 

8 United States. 

9 (2) While the NIH is the largest source of 

10 funding for medical research in the world, the per11 centage of grants awarded has fallen over the last 

12 20 years. 

13 (3) The NIH Center for Scientific Review 

14 works with over 25,000 expert reviewers and applies 

15 the highest level of scientific and ethical standards 

16 to almost 50,000 competitive grant applications 

17 every year. 

18 (4) The NIH’s peer review process is a time19 tested and proven method of identifying the most 

20 promising biomedical research proposals. 

21 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTING BY NIH ON MISSED OPPORTU22 NITIES. 

23 The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 

24 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 403D of such 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 283a–3) the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 403E. ANNUAL REPORTING ON MISSED OPPORTUNI2 TIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the last day of 

4 the first fiscal quarter following the end of each fiscal 

5 year, the Director of NIH shall submit a report to Con6 gress identifying, with respect to each national research 

7 institute, each national center, and the Office of the Direc8 tor of NIH— 

9 ‘‘(1) the success rate of research project grant 

10 applications reviewed during such fiscal year; 

11 ‘‘(2) the top two research project grant applica12 tions reviewed during such fiscal year that were not 

13 funded; and 

14 ‘‘(3) if the success rate described in paragraph 

15 (1) is lower than 32 percent, the top research 

16 project grant applications that were reviewed and 

17 could have been funded to achieve a success rate of 

18 at least 32 percent. 

19 ‘‘(b) TRADE SECRETS AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA20 TION; RESEARCHER NAMES.—This section does not au21 thorize the Secretary to disclose— 

22 ‘‘(1) any information that is a trade secret or 

23 confidential information subject to section 552(b)(4) 

24 of title 5, United States Code, or section 1905 of 

25 title 18, United States Code; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) the names of the researchers proposed to 

2 carry out research pursuant to unfunded research 

3 project grant applications described in subsection 

4 (a). 

5 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) The term ‘success rate’ means the percent7 age of research project grant applications reviewed 

8 during the respective fiscal year that received fund9 ing. 

10 ‘‘(2) The term ‘top’ means having the greatest 

11 potential for— 

12 ‘‘(A) improving public health; 

13 ‘‘(B) advancing biomedical and behavioral 

14 research; and 

15 ‘‘(C) increasing fundamental knowledge 

16 about the nature and behavior of living systems, 

17 and the application of that knowledge towards 

18 enhancing health, lengthening life, and reducing 

19 illness and disability.’’. 

Æ 


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