A hearing to determine whether the Trump Administration’s cuts to medical research are lawful and should go forward is scheduled for later this month after a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily stopped them from taking effect.
Calling it a terrible blow, Oregon and 21 other states filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop the National Institutes of Health from abruptly cutting billions of dollars in medical research nationwide.
According to Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, this court ruling emphasizes how crucial it is to hold federal agencies responsible when their actions endanger the welfare of our communities. Decades of advancement, creativity, and—above all—those who rely on life-saving science for high-quality healthcare would have all been hurt by the NIH’s proposed cuts. Our communities’ safety and well-being rely on this study.
Meanwhile, scientists cautioned that the changes would jeopardize patient safety, result in the loss of thousands of jobs, and jeopardize America’s position as a global leader in innovation and science.
Universities, hospitals, and other research organizations are in shock as they attempt to understand how to deal with the unexpected loss of funding while the cuts announced Friday are addressed in court.
The University of Iowa neurologist Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan, who treats patients with Parkinson’s disease and conducts research on cures, stated, “It’s my life’s work, it’s the life’s work of my team, the promises we have made to the hundreds of patients that I care for.”
Narayanan claimed that if the changes are implemented, his institution and its hospital—one of Iowa’s largest employers—will lose tens of millions of dollars, forcing people to quit their employment and bringing the research enterprise to a complete stop.
In question: The greatest source of funding for scientific research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said that it was reducing “indirect costs” for research facilities that receive its grants. These costs include things like support staff, the disposal of hazardous waste, and the electricity required to run advanced technology.
The government and scientific groups that have depended on it for decades believe that it is essential to doing research, despite the Trump administration’s proclamation dismissing it as overhead that would reduce $4 billion annually. Some locations receive 50% or more of any NIH research funding to help with those expenses, depending on the size of the research institution and the intricacy of its work; however, the new directive would cap that at 15%.
As an illustration of the consequences, the lawsuit filed Monday claimed that Oregon Health and Science University may lose $80 million, which could have an instant effect on the university’s capacity to pay for essential buildings, research compliance, and animal care.
According to the lawsuit, the University of Washington’s medical school in Seattle may lose between $90 million and $110 million in funding, which might force them to reduce existing research trials addressing a range of illnesses from childhood cancer to Alzheimer’s.
According to the states’ lawsuit, enforcing the 15% cap would result in the sudden loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that are already allocated for hiring tens of thousands of researchers and other staff members, stopping numerous initiatives involving cutting-edge technology and life-saving medical research.
There was also a Republican lawmaker who spoke up. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s chair, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, referred to the cuts as arbitrary and a poorly thought-out order. According to a statement, she called Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the candidate for health secretary, who would be in charge of the NIH, and he assured her that he would review the proposal if confirmed.
A hearing on the lawsuit was set on February 21 by U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Trump administration.
— Michael Casey and Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
This report was provided to by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
