The Department of Health and Human Services officially transferred the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Wednesday, according to the Federal Register. ARPA-H was officially created as an agency in Public Law 117-103, as a part the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.
This transfer includes delegating the authority to the Director of NIH to administer, fund, and appoint personnel to the new agency.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy press release notes the intent of the agency, arising out of the experience of COVID-19 and the medical innovations required to treat and create vaccines, is to “provide a novel pathway to catalyzing transformative health breakthroughs that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.” The act itself notes several priorities for the new agency, including “HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease, chronic and environmental disease…” and “opioid addiction, opioid alternatives, stimulant misuse and addiction, pain management, and addiction treatment.”
“Recent advances in biomedical and health sciences—from immunotherapy to treat cancer, to the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines—demonstrate the strengths and successes of the U.S. biomedical enterprise. Such advances present an opportunity to revolutionize how to prevent, treat, and even cure a range of diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and many others that together affect a significant number of Americans,” the release explained.
