Outcry over plans for 'Japanese NIH'

摘要

Many people admire the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a model of how biomedical research should be funded. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken that admiration a step further than most, with a plan to copy the NIH's structure. Much of the government's ¥320 billion (US$3 billion) in biological and biomedical research spending could come under the control of an institute that is set to start taking shape over the summer. The plan, which came to light in mid-June with the publication of two government strategies, one on economic growth and one on health care, would mimic the centralized control of the NIH by consolidating management of research money for a range of research institutes (see 'All for one?'). But the plan also includes a goal to boost clinical applications, and many of the country's life-sciences societies fear that the institute would not emulate the part of the NIH that they most admire: its commitment to basic research.