Federal judge extends block on Trump administration’s funding cuts to medical research
A federal judge completely blocked the Trump administration on Wednesday Cut funding for medical research Many scientists say it will harm patients and costs.
The new NIH policy will divest hundreds of millions of dollars in research teams to cover so-called indirect spending on Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart disease and many other diseases – from clinical trials of new treatments to basic laboratory research, which is the basis for discovery.
A separate lawsuit filed by 22 states and organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions, has been filed nationwide to demand a halt to cuts, saying they will cause “irreparable harm.”
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston Cuts temporarily blocked last month. On Wednesday, she filed a preliminary injunction that would hold the cut for longer as the lawsuit continues.
NIH, a major funder in biomedical research, awarded a grant of approximately $35 billion to the research team last year. The total is divided into “direct” costs – covering the salary of researchers and the supply of laboratories – and “indirect” costs, the administrative and facility costs required to support this effort.
The Trump administration dismissed these expenses as “overhead”, but universities and hospitals believe that this is more important. They can include electricity to operate exquisite machinery, hazardous waste disposal, ensuring researchers comply with safety rules and cleaners staff.
Under previous policies, the government negotiated these rates with institutions. For example, an institution with an indirect cost rate of 50% will receive an additional $50,000 to cover the overhead costs of the $100,000 project. NIH’s new policy will limit overhead at a flat rate of 15%, figuring out the agency’s $4 billion annual savings to the agency.
Current and former healthy Officials had previously told CBS News that they were shocked by the change and stressed that federal authorities had carefully reviewed and negotiated funds for indirect costs.
A former federal health official who worked with a team responsible for representing the overhead costs of NIH audits at NIH for many years: “We fight like hell.”
Negotiations on requests to pay these fees are often controversial and involve inspections of facilities and interrogations of researchers who wish to exercise in buildings where the comments are submitted.
“We don’t give away the farm.
David J. Skorton of the Association of American Medical Colleges, one of the plaintiffs, expressed his appreciation. “These illegal cuts will slow health care progress and sacrifice life,” he wrote in a statement. The NIH-funded research “benefits everyone and community in the United States.”
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIH, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
