The Funding Crisis
The mainstay of funding for medical research is the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The Stanford teams receive grants, but normally the NIH approves less than 10% of proposals. Most grants cover only one year, requiring recurring applications.
As I write this, the federal government prohibits grant approval committee meetings and has slashed administrative and support grants. Future grants are on hold. The need for philanthropic support has never been greater.
University Funding?
It's logical to ask, can't well-endowed universities with medical centers provide the needed funding? Let me use Stanford as an example.
75% of grants are restricted by donors. Of the 25% remaining, a significant portion goes to the university and supporting students. Some does fund the medical center, but with its multiple departments and subdivisions, individual research teams receive small amounts. They help, but the gap is still wide.
Pharma?
Since basic research is the lifeline of pharmaceutical companies, we would think they'd be anxious to get into projects at their beginning stages. Thus they'd have an excellent chance of owning them.
But they don't. Because basic medical research is high risk, and projects fail. Pharma wants therapies that have passed at least two phases of four-phase clinical trials, thus greatly reducing risk.
Researchers call the gap between concept and trial phase III 'the valley of death.' Admittedly, many projects die there. But frequently those projects still move research along. Just on different tracks. Think of it as an Indiana Jones tale. Obstacles, deadends, confusion, but in the end, the holy grail. It's a search.
Filling the Gap
Filling the gap is where you and I come in. An example: the pediatrics team at Stanford Medicine developed a concept for diagnosing and treating children and adolescents exhibiting early signs of mental illness. But the concept was stuck on the shelf. No funding. My wife and I decided to fund it, and have stayed with it. Now that program is available to school districts across the country.
I call it 'venture philanthropy.' High risk? Of course. But it provides vital funding to the incubators where the cures of the future will be found. As have treatments and vaccines we take for granted today. Have I made my point? Venture funding is absolutely vital. It is a major part of the key to discovering cures for mental illness.