ARPA-H: New Health Research Agency Faces Old Concerns About Disrupting Private Investment

 
• By Derrick Gingery

Proposed Advanced Research Project Agency for Health also needs to distinguish itself from NCATS, which faced many of the same questions when it was created a decade ago. Disagreements also persist about whether ARPA-H should be housed in NIH or HHS.

Geoffrey Shiu Fei Ling speaks at House hearing on ARPA-H
Geoffrey Shiu Fei Ling, CEO of On Demand Pharmaceuticals and a former DARPA program manager, testifies in favor of creating ARPA-H to speed health care innovation. • Source: Screenshot

Proponents of President Biden’s push for an Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) answered many of the same types of questions that arose the last time the federal government tried to create an agency to streamline drug development, namely how it would avoid disincentivizing private sector work.

Several members of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee wanted assurances that the proposed ARPA-H, which is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), will compliment private sector activities

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