High-risk, high-reward health research is the mandate of a new, billion-dollar US agency.

It was a new multi-billion dollar federal agency. Created with a goal Supporting “the next moon horns for health” through science, logistics, diversity and equality. And the agency now has its first leader, as President Joe Biden named Renee Wegrzy. Director of Advanced Research Projects Agencyor ARPA-H, on September 12, 2022.

Since Notice of intent to establish ARPA-H Two years ago, this new agency sparked interest and questions in academia and industry.

I have been a Director of innovation-led health facilities For decades, they have worked with government agencies that provide funding for science. I and many of my colleagues hope that ARPA-H will be the agency that rapidly translates scientific discoveries into real-world advances in the detection, prevention, and treatment of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. But questions remain about how it works and how it differs from government-funded agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

What is ARPA-H?

It is ARPA-H The new body established in National Institutes of Health. ARPA-H was clearly established as an independent agency within NIH, theoretically allowing it to tap into NIH’s vast scientific and administrative expertise and resources while still being smart and forward-thinking.

ARPA-H was inspired and modeled after Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to rapidly develop advanced technologies. DARPA is small compared to other federal research and development agencies, but it has been highly successful for a long time. It has been instrumental in inventing many technologies, from the Internet to GPS, and even funded Moderna. Development of mRNA vaccine technology in 2013.

ARPA-H is not the only DARPA spinoff. In the year In 2006, the federal government created the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Initiative Solving difficult challenges in the intelligence communityAnd in 2009, the Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency was launched. Although the budget was small compared to the Department of Energy, ARPA-E remained Incredibly effective in funding great research to combat climate change. By funding medium- and long-term projects, IARPA, ARPA-E, and now ARPA-H are intended to operate between slow, government-funded basic research and short-term, profit-driven private sector investment capital.

How does the agency work?

Biden wants ARPA-H to replicate DARPA’s success, but by providing rapid leadership for “high-risk, high-reward biomedical and health research” in healthcare. Equitable implementation and implementation of health developmentsHe said.

Established federal agencies such as NIH and the National Science Foundation prefer to fund more basic research and less risky projects compared to DARPA’s high-risk, high-reward, applied science approach. ARPA-H will need it if it wants to achieve the previous success They work differently than NIH and NSF.

DARPA employs about 100 program managers who are on loan from academia or industry for three to five years. These managers travel across the country to meet with scientists and experts in various fields to generate ideas and initiate projects. These managers make funding decisions and work closely with their funded teams to resolve issues, but then cut the funding if the teams fail to deliver the promised milestones on time. Many DARPA projects don’t bring spectacular achievements, but they push the boundaries of science and technology.

Many years ago, I had the privilege of working with a DARPA program manager, along with many experts in various fields of science and medicine. After several months of meetings, the program manager proposed a development.Fracture putty” – a putty-like material that can be applied to a broken bone of a wounded soldier on the battlefield. The material supports weight, prevents infection, accelerates healing and accelerates bone regeneration and eventually dissolves. The program started in 2008 and our team of chemists, nanomaterials experts, bioengineers, mathematical modelers and surgeons were among the groups funded by this program.

Who is the new director?

Wegrzyn He has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Bioengineering from Georgia Tech. She is currently the Vice President of Business Development at American biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks. Wegrzyn spent four and a half years as a program manager in DARPA’s Office of Biological Technologies, where she directed projects focused on genetic engineering and gene editing for biosecurity and public health. She worked for someone else. by the DARPA initiative agencyIntelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Currently, we do not yet know the exact plan and process for hiring APAR-H program managers and where APAR-H headquarters will be located. Several cities have expressed interest..

What should people look for when ARPA-H starts?

DARPA is run by talented, ambitious, and risk-taking program managers. They generate ideas and turn lofty goals into practical projects. It will be interesting to see how many and what kind of program managers ARPA-H hires in the early days, as these decisions will be an indication of which areas in health care the agency will prioritize.

I also look to see how well ARPA-H and its program managers are doing at NIH, which has incredible depth of resources and expertise in all areas of health care that ARPA-H can tap into. But NIH has very different funding mechanisms than DARPA.

The last question is money. Biden wants to $6.5 billion for ARPA-H fundingAnd he just got it 1 billion dollars from Congress so far. This is the first big challenge. Finding political unity for funding could be the first major achievement of this new agency if it is to achieve its goals.