BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH PAYS OFF

Our analysis showed . . . 41% of all work judged to be essential for later clinical advance was not clinically oriented at the time it was done. The scientists responsible for these key articles sought knowledge for the sake of knowledge. . . . Our data show that clinical advance requires different types of research and development and not one to the exclusion of the other. . . . Our data compel us to conclude (1) that a generous portion of the nation9s biomedical research dollar should be used to identify and then provide long term support for creative scientists whose main goal is to learn how living organisms function, without regard to the immediate relation of their research to specific human diseases; and (2) that basic research, as we have defined it, pays off in terms of key discoveries almost twice as handsomely as other types of research and development combined.