Scientists warn the Trump administration鈥檚 drastic cuts for medical research endanger patients, will cost thousands of jobs 鈥 and threaten America鈥檚 standing as a world leader in science and innovation.
Nearly two dozen states sued Monday to block the 好色tv Institutes of Health鈥檚 surprise slashing of billions of dollars in medical research around the country, calling it a 鈥渄evastating鈥 blow. Later Monday, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the cuts from taking effect, setting a hearing for later this month to settle whether they are legal and should proceed.
鈥淚f you鈥檝e ever wished for a cure, for better treatment options for yourself or a loved one, this should feel personal,鈥 said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
While the are tackled in court, universities, hospitals and other research groups are reeling as they try to figure out how to handle the sudden loss of funding.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my life鈥檚 work 鈥 it鈥檚 the life鈥檚 work of my team, the promises we have made to the hundreds of patients that I care for,鈥 said Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan, a University of Iowa neurologist who treats Parkinson鈥檚 patients while also researching treatments for the incurable disease.
If the cuts are enacted, Narayanan said, his university and its hospital 鈥 one of Iowa鈥檚 top employers 鈥 will lose 鈥渢ens of millions of dollars, people will have to lose their jobs, the research enterprise will grind to a halt.鈥
At issue: The NIH, the largest funder of biomedical research, said it was cutting what are called 鈥渋ndirect costs鈥 for research institutions that receive its grants 鈥 such things as support staff, hazardous waste disposal and the electricity needed to operate sophisticated machinery.
What the Trump administration鈥檚 announcement dismissed as 鈥渙verhead鈥 that would cut $4 billion a year is what the government and scientific organizations that have relied on it for decades say is key to doing research. Depending on the size of the research institution and the complexity of its work, some places receive 50% or more of the amount of any NIH research grant to put toward those costs 鈥 but the new order would cap that at 15%.
As an example of the impact, Monday鈥檚 lawsuit said the University of Washington's medical school in Seattle could lose $90 million to $110 million in funding 鈥 and that might mean having to scale back ongoing clinical trials involving a list of diseases from Alzheimer鈥檚 to childhood cancer.
The states' lawsuit said implementing the 15% cap would 鈥渕ean the abrupt loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that are already committed to employing tens of thousands of researchers and other workers, putting a halt to countless life-saving health research and cutting-edge technology initiatives.鈥
A Republican lawmaker spoke out, too. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the cuts arbitrary and a 鈥減oorly conceived directive.鈥 In a statement, she said she called Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for health secretary who would oversee agencies including NIH, who promised that if confirmed he鈥檇 reexamine the measure.
U.S. district court judge Angel Kelley scheduled a hearing on the case for Feb. 21. The Trump administration did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The NIH gave out about $35 billion in grants last year: Scientists submit research proposals that are vetted by expert committees to determine their importance. The total grant for each project is divided into 鈥渄irect鈥 costs 鈥 things like the researchers鈥 salaries and cost of laboratory supplies 鈥 and 鈥渋ndirect鈥 costs, the administrative and facility costs needed to support that work.
鈥淵ou need electricity, you need water, you need hazardous waste disposal, you need IT security, you need building security,鈥 said Dr. Elena Fuentes-Afflick, chief scientific officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Sure, research labs already have basics like water and electricity 鈥 but the costs are shared by the different projects that use them. Labs that handle dangerous viruses, for example, require special safety precautions that are much more expensive than other types of research and thus those grants would have higher supporting costs to cover their institution鈥檚 extra expenses, explained Research!America president and CEO Mary Woolley, a nonprofit research advocacy group.
鈥淚magine you鈥檙e funding a concert. Direct costs would be like paying for the musicians and their instruments. Indirect costs would be the venue, the sound system, the people who manage the event 鈥 all essential, but often invisible to the audience,鈥 said Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University, stressing he wasn't speaking for his employer. He said if the cut stands, 鈥渋t threatens to undermine the U.S.'s longstanding leadership in global medical research at a time when we should be accelerating progress, not slowing it down.鈥
That invisible infrastructure includes teaching the next generation of scientists and hiring staff to make sure researchers follow safety rules and ethics standards, added former NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli. She said hospitals and universities in rural states especially stand to lose, as they have less recourse to other sources of funding.
People losing their jobs won鈥檛 be just scientists, Woolley added. She pointed to office staff keeping the books, small businesses that supply research equipment, even the food truck that relies on the lunchtime crowd from the local lab.
Critical care physician Dr. Theodore Iwashyna of Johns Hopkins University is doing NIH-funded work focused on helping people recover and get back to work as quickly as possible after pneumonia. Losing the indirect-costs portion of his grant would 鈥渏ust utterly destroy鈥 his research and that infrastructure, he said 鈥 noting that some of his trainees already have asked if they should look for other jobs.
鈥淚 say, 鈥楴o, I think we can support you for now,鈥欌 Iwashyna said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 just hoping. I don鈥檛 know for sure.鈥
鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of why we would do that to our children, who are counting on us to discover new cures and to keep creating jobs for them,鈥 he added.
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AP reporters Christina Larson, Laura Ungar and Lisa Mascaro contributed.
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