President Trump’s FY 20 Budget Request highlights two high priority medical research areas ​​in particular, HIV/AIDS and opioid addiction, that ​invite long-term tracking across a mix of federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), Centers of Disease Control (CDC), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA):

1. HIV/AIDS: The FY 20 Budget Request includes an estimated $291 million for initial plans to reduce new infections by 75 percent in the next five years and by 90 percent within one decade.

• NIH-wide HIV/AIDS research programs would see a decrease of $424 million (13.9 percent) compared to the FY 19 enacted level, according to the NIH Office of AIDS Research FY 20 Budget Justification. In contrast, the President’s FY 20 budget request includes $6 million for NIH-sponsored AIDS research to promote best practices, based on state-of-the art biomedical research findings, and data collection on the effectiveness of approaches used in the anticipated initiative.
• Support for testing, linkages to care and medications for at-risk citizens may become available through the CDC at $140 million. Since the CDC’s funding portfolio leans heavily towards government entities (68 percent compared to 21 percent for non-profits), keep an eye on state-level partnership opportunities.
• The budget calls for $70 million in new funds for the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative under the Ryan White Healthcare and AIDS Research Program (RWHAP) compliments of HRSA. There are several program parts to RWHAP. Public  institutions join the list of FY 18 grant recipients through the Early Intervention Services and Capacity Development Program Grants (Part C) and Services for Women, Infants, Children, and Youth (Part D).

2. Opioids: The FY 20 Budget Request includes $4.8 billion to combat the opioid overdose epidemic.

• Continued support is likely to sustain NIH’s HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, a cross-agency approach to speed scientific solutions to fight the national opioid public health crisis. The FY 20 Budget maintains $1 billion allocated for cross functional research to improve treatment for opioid misuse, addiction and chronic pain management. ($500 million of the $1 billion is set for FY 20). The HEAL Initiative includes a holistic health approach to address addiction and pain management. Non-clinical, behavioral and social science opportunities are built into the program.
• SAMHSA is expected to continue all current opioid activities at the same funding level as FY 19.

What’s next? The President’s request serves an initial blueprint intended to help guide Congress. The actual FY 20 budget will undergo a series of bipartisan revisions before the final version is passed by Congress and signed into law. In the meantime, please take advantage of the upcoming opportunities to connect your institution with available funding:

• Act Now:  SAMHSA’s training webinar for prospective applicants interested in applying to FY 19 grant programs on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.
• Act Now: HRSA’s training webinar geared to prospective applicants for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Evaluation (RCORP) on Thursday, March 28, 2019 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET. Applications are due May 6, 2019.
• Act Now: NIH’s HEAL Initiative: Translational Development of Devices to Treat Pain (U18 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is accepting applications to create and demonstrate safe, effective and non-addictive device technologies and approaches to treat pain. This opportunity provides up to $500,000 in direct costs annually and applications are accepted three-times per year through February 23, 2021.

Next week, we will explore potential research support for the universal Influenza vaccine and childhood cancers noted in the President’s FY 20 Budget Request.​