Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Upton: Every new drug relies on NIH research

Fred Upton · a16z Podcast | Innovation and Regulation -- What Happens When Policy Lags Behind Technology? · Jan 2, 2019 · at 15:13

U.S. Representative Fred Upton highlights the role of NIH funding while explaining why the 21st Century Cures Act allocates nearly $2 billion annually to the agency.

0:00 / 0:03exact quote · 3.7s

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“There's not a new drug out there that didn't have NIH research.”

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The claim, plainly

Every new drug on the market as of 2015 relied on research conducted or funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

In a comprehensive empirical study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS, Cleary et al., 2018), researchers analyzed all 210 new molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2016. The study found that NIH funding contributed to published research associated with 210 out of 210 (100%) of those approved new drugs, primarily through foundational basic research on the biological targets of the drugs. A subsequent expanded study covering 2010–2019 similarly found that 99.4% to 99.7% of approved drugs traced back to NIH funding. Consequently, the claim that every new drug on the market relied on NIH-funded research holds true under standard bibliographic analysis.

Cleary et al. (PNAS, 2018) analyzed all 210 new molecular entities approved by the FDA from 2010 through 2016 and found that NIH funding contributed to published research for 210 of 210 (100%) approved drugs.
Total NIH investment linked to 2010–2016 FDA drug approvals exceeded $100 billion, with over 90% supporting basic science on the biological targets of the drugs.
All 84 first-in-class drugs approved between 2010 and 2016 were directly linked to NIH-funded research.

Checked against

[1] pnas.org [2] nih.gov [3] pnas.org [4] sfrbm.org [5] researchgate.net [6] nih.gov [7] ineteconomics.org [8] europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com

Contribution of NIH funding to new drug approvals 2010 2016 PNAS NIH funding new drug approvals study PNAS 2010 2016 Cleary Bentley

assessed as of 2026-08-27

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Mentioned

new drug NIH

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