Table 1 displays the currently available HHS budget information for a number of the diseases that are receiving increased lobbying attention. Funding information is incomplete for all the diseases listed, with the AIDS budget information being the most comprehensive. The report was submitted to the committee on February 23, 1998. The Senate subcommittee heard from NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus as well as representatives of the Institute of Medicine, academia, scientific societies, industry and advocacy groups. Dr. Varmus emphasized that the ability to plan for scientific discovery is limited.
Science attempts to discover what is unknown.
It's inherently unpredictable. In his view, history has shown that when research activity is guided by an individual scientist's imagination, there are many benefits for public health. Much of the basic research supported by NIH is difficult to classify as part of a research plan against a specific disease. When Congress and the public inquire about how the NIH budget is spent, it is often in terms of how much money is spent for a specific disease. Dr. Varmus pointed out that although the coding of funds by disease category may be useful for some purposes, it is inherently imprecise.