Arkansas Biosciences Institute touts $4.50 ROI and research wins from tobacco‑settlement funding

Officials from the Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute presented the Tobacco Settlement Commission quarterly report and ABI’s 20th annual summary to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

Matt Gilmore of the Department of Health said the January–March 2022 quarterly report reflected disruptions from the Omicron COVID‑19 wave but showed positive trends in screenings and in health‑professional education. He noted changes in populations served through Medicaid expansion tied to the public health emergency and offered to provide committee members with more Medicaid‑specific data.

Bobby McGee, executive director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute and a UAMS faculty member, emphasized ABI’s role in leveraging settlement dollars for research. McGee said ABI receives about $10 million annually from the tobacco settlement and, over 20 years, has leveraged ‘‘$816,000,000 in extramural awards’’ and produced roughly 7,500 publications. He reported this year’s extramural awards were strong (noting awards in the tens of millions) and stated ABI’s 20‑year return on investment is approximately ‘‘$4.5 for every dollar that we've received.’’

McGee highlighted a series of projects supported by ABI, including a NASA student payload testing wax‑worm biodegradation of polyethylene in microgravity and a partnership with the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement to enable ABI investigators to access the All‑Payer Claims Database; the latter collaboration produced 47 approved projects since 2017, attracted extramural funding and yielded multiple publications.

Committee members thanked presenters and asked follow‑up questions about smoking rates in Medicaid populations and program impacts; Matt Gilmore said the statewide smoking rate moved from about 25% to about 20% during his time working with the commission and offered to supply more detailed Medicaid data.