[lucysmom]

Included in FY 2000 Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund appropriation is $20,000,000 designated for "NIH Challenge Grants and Partnerships." This new initiative is intended "to promote joint ventures between the National Institutes of Health and the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries" and involves a "one-on-one matching of federal dollars by qualified organizations that are conducting R&D activities in biomedical research or biotechnology with commercializable potential or conducting research in promising therapies."

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-00-010.html

In June 1991, this subcommittee asked TAP to provide testimony on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and the National Cancer Institution (NCI), regarding the development of taxol.(1) Our review of the NCI/BMS taxol CRADA was followed by a much broader review of the government's role in the development of new drugs.

For example, in a study presented in February 1993, TAP examined the federal government's role in the development of all FDA approved cancer drugs that were discovered since 1955, and found that 34 of the 37 cancer drugs were developed with significant federal support.(2)

...Of these 30 "important" new drugs approved by the FDA, 15 benefited from significant funding by the U.S. government. When one considers the country where the drug was first discovered the government's role is even more important. 17 of the "important" new drugs were discovered in the U.S. Of these drugs, 12 were developed with significant government funding - that is, 71 percent were developed with significant government funding.

http://www.cptech.org/pharm/igrep.html

Additional notes on government role in the development of HIV/AIDS drugs

http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/aids/gov-role.html

A google search returns 58,200 results

[monday]

"A google search returns 58,200 results"

Most of them involving pharmaceutical company grants to independent researchers and universities. I couldn't find a single reference to government grants to pharmaceutical companies. I still don't believe the government hands out billions like you say. If it does, prove it.