NIH, HHS awards grants to biotech innovators

The biotech industry is getting a major boost in revenue as the National Institutes of Health awarded $1 billion in grants and tax credits to biotechnology companies with innovative ideas for therapeutic treatment.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined NIH Director Francis Collins in announcing the awards during a teleconference Wednesday. Almost 3,000 companies in 47 states and the District received awards of almost a quarter-million dollars, with some companies receiving two or more grants.

"The United States has the most innovative companies, the most ambitious entrepreneurs and the most productive workers in the world," Geithner said. "These grants will help make sure our companies, entrepreneurs, and workers can continue to invest and innovate, which will strengthen our economy now and far into the future."

Innovative programs include a flu vaccine that could last several years, an autism vaccine currently in Phase 3 of clinical trials, and vaccines for gastrointestinal infections.

"These grants made possible by the Affordable Care Act will not only help to create jobs and bolster the economy but also bring us closer to the next generation of life-saving cures," Collins said. "The projects funded show significant potential to create new therapies that will address unmet medical needs and bolster the medical countermeasure supply we use to respond to health emergencies."

More than 4,500 applications were submitted with ideas that involved scientific activities that are designed to treat areas of unmet medical need. While the awards were relatively small in the scientific research world, some businesses received multiple grants, with one company amassing $2.9 million in grants and credits.

The grants are already paid for with no possibility for expansion this year.

But things might change with Republicans in power in the House.

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