U.S. Health Research Spending Level Flat in 2009

Spending in the U.S. on health research made gains in 2009, due mainly to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but as a percentage of overall spending on health care, stayed at about the same level as 2008. These findings came in a report yesterday from an annual audit of health research spending by Research!America, an organization that advocates for medical research.

The report shows the U.S. spent $139 billion on health research from all sources in 2009, up from $131 billion in 2008, an increase of 6 percent. The federal portion of health research spending added $8.4 billion over 2008, that Research!America attributes to the federal economic stimulus bill, known officially as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Click on image for full-size view (Research!America)

Industry contributed over half (53.5%) of health research spending last year, at $74.3 billion, down somewhat from $74.8 billion in 2008. Biotech enterprises invested $32.7 last year in R&D, with pharmaceutical companies close behind at $32.6 billion. Medical device manufacturers chipped in about $9 billion. The federal government spent $46.8 billion in 2009, about three-quarters of that amount — $35.5 billion — going to National Institutes of Health. Other sources, such as foundations and state governments, spent $17.8 billion on health research.

As a percentage of the overall $2.47 trillion spent on health care in the U.S., the amount allocated to research stayed at about the same level — 5.6 percent — as in 2008. According to Research!America, this percentage has hardly changed since 2005, varying between 5.4 and 5.6 percent.