FUNDING FOR PATIENT-ORIENTED RESEARCH - CRITICAL STRAIN ON A FUNDAMENTAL LINCHPIN

Context.-Interest in clinical investigative careers has declined over the past 2 decades. While several factors are likely involved in this decline, one is the perceived difficulty in obtaining support for inve stigator-initiated clinical research projects. Objective.-To analyze t he priority scores and funding rates of patient-oriented research (POR ) compared with laboratory-oriented research (LOR) when grant applicat ions to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are reviewed by study sections of the NIH Division of Research Grants. Design.-Research gran t applications submitted to NIH were classified by the applicant as in volving human subjects or not (LOR). Those classified as involving hum an subjects were divided into clinical (POR) and nonclinical research. The association of priority score and POR or LOR status was evaluated using chi(2) statistical techniques. Setting and Participants.-Twelve thousand investigator-initiated grant applications (R01s) in 2 of the 1994 NIH review cycles. Main Outcome Measures.-Grant application prio rity scores and funding rates. Results.-On the basis of the following 3 criteria, POR applications fare less well than LOR applications: (1) POR status and ranking in the total application pool; (2) percentage of POR vs LOR applications in the top 20th percentile; and (3) funding rates of POR applications. Furthermore, the fate of a POR application depended on which study section reviewed the application. Those appli cations that were reviewed in study sections that primarily reviewed P OR applications fared equivalently to LOR applications; in contrast, P OR applications reviewed in study sections that primarily reviewed LOR applications encountered a less favorable fate. Conclusions.-These ob jective data provide strong support to the clinical research community 's concern that investigator-initiated POR applications are not review ed equitably at the NIH. By restructuring the review process, fairness is likely to be restored. Without restructuring, the POR component of the medical research community may be critically damaged.