[ RadSafe ] Government scrutinizes strategic importance of nuclear medicine research

[John Jacobus]

>From an e-mail newsletter I get.  The problem with DOE
not supporting medical radionuclide research is not
new.  It has been going on for 10 years.  Spending
another $750K will not fix the problem.  Our
researchers are starting to order material from
Russia.

See http://www.ig.doe.gov/pdf/ig-0709.pdf

------------------
 
Diagnostic Imaging Online
February 14, 2006

Government scrutinizes strategic importance of nuclear
medicine research

The Department of Energy and the National Institutes
of Health are collaborating on a three-quarter of a
million dollar study to determine the importance of
nuclear medicine research and to recommend ways to
overcome problems that have dogged its pursuit. 
The study’s existence came to light Jan. 31 during a
National Press Club meeting where Society of Nuclear
Medicine president Dr. Peter Conti asked NIH chief Dr.
Elias Zerhouni about cuts to nuclear medicine research
at DOE totaling $30 million. 

Despite intense lobbying, the SNM failed to persuade
the government in November to reauthorize
long-standing DOE support of research for radioisotope
discovery and nuclear medicine scanner design. 

Zerhouni announced that the DOE-NIH study was
commissioned to determine the strategic importance of
nuclear medicine research. 

“The question is whether you fund for 50 years the
same centers over and over again, or do you fund on a
competitive basis the best ideas that come in,” he
said, referring to DOE programs originating with the
Atoms for Peace program of the 1950s. 

Although Conti expressed dismay that the SNM had not
been informed earlier about the study, he was
encouraged about the NIH-DOE collaboration. 

“This is positive. At least it shows that somebody
cares about nuclear medicine research and wants to
study it. That’s a lot better than cuts made because
it is thought to have no value,” Conti said. 

The DOE and NIH plan to contract with the National
Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and the
Board of Health Science Policy to conduct the 13-month
investigation. The NRSB has agreed in principle to
participate, said board director Kevin Crowley.
Implementation will proceed after the DOE and NIH work
out final details concerning funding. 

Plans call for the NRSB to recruit a 15-member
committee to research and write the report, according
to Belinda Seto, deputy director of the National
Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and
project officer for the contract. Members may be drawn
from academia, medical practice, the nonprofit
community, and possibly industry. DOE is set to spend
$496,000 on the study, while NIH will contribute
$248,000. 

Planning documents for the study identify four issues
for investigation:

--future needs for radiopharmaceutical development for
the diagnosis and treatment of human disease 

--future needs for computational and instrument
development for more precise localization of
radiotracers in normal and aberrant cell physiologies 

--impediments to the entry of promising new
radiopharmaceutical compounds into clinical trial and
strategies to overcome these problems 

--short- and long-term strategies to overcome probable
shortages of isotopes and qualified radiochemists to
perform nuclear medicine research 

The final report will probably be ready for
publication about 14 months after organizing efforts
begin, Crowley said. 
Congress cuts $23 million from nuclear medicine
research 

Advocates opposed planned cuts in clinical research 

Funding cuts imperil nuclear medicine's innovative
tradition 

-- By James Brice 

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+++++++++++++++++++
"It is not the job of public-affairs officers to alter, filter or 
adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical 
staff."
MICHAEL D. GRIFFIN, NASA administrator.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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