Government Funding for Medical Research: What's the right amount?

In the article "Race for Medical Cure Also a Contest of Funds", writer Daniel Q. Haney highlights the federal government's spending on varying physical illnesses, such as cancer and AIDS. The article, which was written in 1992, states that the government funded about $2 billion each for cancer and AIDS, despite the number of casualties from cancer being approximately 25 times higher to that of AIDS. The writer suggests that a major factor to AIDS receiving so much funding, aside from its "clear health emergency," has much to do with advocacy from "single-disease pressure groups." Several people with varying opinions on the matter are interviewed in this article, with particular emphasis on whether the funding used to find a cure for AIDS is too high or too low.