AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from The Conversation, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

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Cystic fibrosis is a severe disease where thick mucus blocks airways, making breathing progressively harder. In 1979, when the author was training as a pediatrician, the median age of death from this condition was 15. There were no treatments for the disease itself at that time; care involved physical therapy and antibiotics that often caused dangerous resistant infections.

Treatment changed dramatically after 2012 following federal research funding. The biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals launched Kalydeco, followed by several other drugs through 2024. Mary Vought, former wife of the Office of Management and Budget director, stated her daughter can likely live a full life because of these "miracle drugs," noting that it is very hopeful. Consequently, the median survival age for children born today in the United States is now 66 years.

These treatments required decades of research funded by public and private investments. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) was the largest contributor, supporting over 6,200 published papers on cystic fibrosis biology before Kalydeco’s approval. From 1985 to 2012, NIH provided $3.2 billion for basic research and approximately $940 million for applied drug research. This complemented investments from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Now, federal funding is threatened by policies proposed by the Office of Management Budget that would increase political control over grants and limit peer review. While Congress temporarily blocked some of these rules, several agencies are still pursuing them. Developing new drugs typically requires 20 to 30 years of basic research and eight to nine years of clinical testing, supported by an average of $1.4 billion in NIH funding per drug. Protecting federal funding for basic research is seen as critical for future medical breakthroughs.