A Genomics Argument About Why the NIH is Good for Business

A quote from Elaine Mardis, the Washington University in St.Louis DNA sequencing expert, about how cuts to NIH funding are hurting genomics companies like Illumina, Life Technologies, and Pacific Biosciences, even though they represent one of the few U.S. industry’s making something of value.

Strong words from The Scientist Magazine:

“Right now, if you look at the major genomics companies—the number of people they employ and the instruments and reagents they produce—we’re probably one of the few US enterprises that’s still making something of value. And doing new science. But by downgrading the funding of NIH and not supporting science at its very essence, we’re damaging those manufacturers and their ability to sell products and sustain a realistic stock price. This worries me, because it doesn’t take long to lose your advantage by underfunding science and underfunding innovation.”

Reposted from Forbes. Written by Matthew Herper.