Thursday, November 4, 2010

Bayh Related Medical Innovation Funds


Susan Bayh, wife of Senator Evan Bayh, saw three of her firms benefit from Uncle Sam's latest PPACA largess.  Recipients of medical innovation grants include:

Curis--$$490,000
Dyax--nearly $1.5 million
Esperion--$245,000

Virtually all the federal funding was for 2009, with less than $90,000 for current year expenses.  That's a sweet cash injection.  Senator Bayh wrote in a post election op-ed:

We also overreached by focusing on health care rather than job creation during a severe recession. It was a noble aspiration, but $1 trillion in new spending and a major entitlement expansion are best attempted when the Treasury is flush and the economy strong, hardly our situation today. 
 Will Evan encourage his wife to return the money. at least until the Treasury is flush?

Update 1-23-11:  The Obama administration will establish the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, a federal research center for drug discoveries.  This comes atop the $1 billion in medical innovation grants recently distributed.  President George W. Bush took on drug company liability.  The Obama team took on a portion of retiree health insurance via ERRP and now will help subsidize research costs.