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Public funding for medical research in relation to the burden of disease caused by cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms in Germany

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Abstract

Background

Public funding for medical research in Germany is primarily provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The aim of this study was to analyze the amount of national public funding for medical research on predominant causes of death in Germany, cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, in relation to the burden of these diseases in Germany.

Methods

Three evaluators categorized medical research projects funded by the DFG or BMBF between 2010 and 2012 into the categories “Diseases of the circulatory system” (with subgroups “Ischemic heart diseases”, “Heart failure” and “Cerebrovascular diseases”) and “Neoplasms”. The total amount of public funding by the national agencies was analyzed in relation to the burden of disease for the respective disease condition.

Results

Information on national public funding for medical research of 2091 million euros was available; of those, 246.8 million euros (11.8%) were categorized being spent for research on “Neoplasms”, 118.4 million euros (5.7%) for research on “Diseases of the circulatory system”. This results in 362.08 euros per case of death, 16.58 euros per year of life lost (YLL) and 16.04 euros per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) for “Neoplasms” and in 113.44 euros per case of death, 8.05 euros per YLL and 7.17 euros per DALY for “Diseases of the circulatory system”.

Conclusions

In Germany, research on cardiovascular diseases receives a lower share of national public funding for medical research compared to oncological research. These results are comparable to other European countries.

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Acknowledgements

The results are part of the MD thesis of Manuel Krone.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Manuel Krone

    Present address: Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2/E1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2/D7, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    Manuel Krone, Vera Dufner, Martin Wagner, Götz Gelbrich & Peter U. Heuschmann

  2. Clinical Trial Center, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Götz Gelbrich

  3. Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Georg Ertl

  4. Comprehensive Heart Failure Center, Würzburg, Germany

    Georg Ertl & Peter U. Heuschmann

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  1. Manuel Krone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuel Krone.

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Conflict of interest

MK, VD and MW declare no conflict of interest. GG reports grants from University Göttingen within DZHK analysis projects (the DZHK is funded by a BMBF Grant), personal fees from Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin within the TIM-HF-II trial for data safety and monitoring board membership (TIM-HF-II is supported by a BMBF Grant to the Charité), grants from University Hospital Würzburg within the MOOD-HF trial for biometry and steering committee membership (MOOD-HF is supported by a BMBF grant and an unrestricted grant to the University Hospital Würzburg from Lundbeck), grants from Reha-Klinikum Roter Hügel Bayreuth within the CaRitaS-trial for biometry and steering committee membership, grants from University Göttingen within the FIND-AF-randomized trial (FIND-AF-randomized is supported by an unrestricted grant to the University Göttingen from Boehringer-Ingelheim), outside the submitted work. GE reports research grants from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), counselling contract with Vifor Pharma, Lundbeck non-financial support, Bayer Grants, Novartis Grants and personal fees, outside the submitted work. PUH reports research grants from German Ministry of Research and Education, European Union, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin Chamber of Physicians, German Parkinson Society, German Heart Foundation, University Hospital Würzburg, Robert Koch Institute, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (within Mondafis; supported by an unrestricted research grant to the Charité from Bayer), University Göttingen (within FIND-AF randomized; supported by an unrestricted research grant to the University Göttingen from Boehringer-Ingelheim), University Hospital Heidelberg (within RASUNOA-prime; supported by an unrestricted research grant to the University Hospital Heidelberg from Bayer, BMS, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo), outside the submitted work.

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Krone, M., Dufner, V., Wagner, M. et al. Public funding for medical research in relation to the burden of disease caused by cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms in Germany. Clin Res Cardiol 107, 737–744 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00392-018-1240-4

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