A recent study has revealed that the rate of funding for biomedical research across America has worryingly slowed, and even managed to decline, over the past few years.

The goal of the research was to quantify the funding of biomedical research across the United States from the years 2003 to 2008, by analyzing data made publicly available on funding from the Government, private sector and industry sources. Regression models were used to track the financial trends between 1994 to 2003, and 2003 to 2007.

"With the exception of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, funding support for biomedical research in the United States has slowed after a decade of doubling", notes study leader E. Ray Dorsey, MD, MBA, from University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

After making all adjustments for inflation, it was discovered that funding from the National Institutes of Health has actually fallen by 8.6% from 2003 to 2007. On the other hand, total federal funding managed to increase by about 100% from 1994 to 2003.

"After a decade of doubling, the rate of increase in biomedical research funding slowed from 2003 to 2007 and after adjustment for inflation, the absolute level of funding from the [NIH] and industry appears to have decreased by 2% in 2008," the study noted.

Details of the study have been published in the January 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.