Trump’s freeze on science grants will delay lifesaving cures and cost jobs
Scientific innovation keeps America great. It keeps you and your family healthy. Yet the Trump administration’s early actions at the National Institutes of Health threaten this critical innovation.
In its first days, the administration abruptly moved to freeze the grant review process at the National Institutes of Health and disrupt internal scientific research at the agency.
When research is stopped, or even paused, it has real effects on our lives. It means that a cure for the diabetes that runs in your family will be delayed. It means that efforts to understand how cancer spreads — and how to stop it — will be stalled.
It means that we will be that much farther away from being able to diagnose and develop novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. And as efforts to find better treatments for substance abuse and addiction are delayed, we will continue to lose our brothers, sisters and children who suffer from addiction.
The NIH is the largest biomedical research agency in the world, distributing more than $30 billion in grants each year. The taxpayer gets an excellent return on this investment.
In purely financial terms, each dollar the NIH spends to fund research generates nearly $2.50 in economic activity, according to an analysis by United for Medical Research, a coalition of universities, medical associations, patient advocacy groups and private industry. The funding supports more than 400,000 jobs nationwide in every single state.
But the biggest return is the research itself.
Think about the health hazards that have grabbed headlines lately: Bird flu. Ultra-processed foods. Loneliness. Alcohol. Social media. Microplastics. Wildfires. Scientists in labs across the country rely on NIH funding to understand these issues, and so many others with the potential to affect each of us and those we love.
Indeed, NIH funding powered the science that led to the development of every one of the 210 new therapeutics approved between 2010 and 2016, according to a study published in 2018. There’s no reason to believe that efficacy has diminished at all in the years since.
NIH grants also fund training programs that equip the next generation of scientists with the skills necessary to identify and tackle the health threats of tomorrow.
It's not unusual for new administrations to impose a short pause on some activities in federal agencies while their appointees get up and running. But this week’s actions have been unprecedented.
The administration canceled grant review meetings, known as “study sections,” that had been scheduled literally years in advance. One researcher told STAT that her study section was abruptly terminated right in the middle of the meeting. No new grants can move forward without these study sections, which help to ensure that the most promising avenues of research are funded.
If the process restarts within a week or two, the disruption will be manageable. Any longer, however, and scientists who depend on NIH funding to pay their teams, maintain their equipment and conduct their experiments will not only lose ground but may be forced to leave the field. Or return home, in the case of international scientists working in the U.S. That would be a stinging loss for them but would have even more disastrous consequences for health research in the U.S.
A study published last year found that funding interruptions lasting more than 30 days “have a meaningful effect on the scientific labor force at the national level.” The impact is likely to be particularly hard on early-career scientists and trainees — the very people whom the world is counting on to deliver the next generation of breakthrough treatments.
In addition to the freeze on external grant reviews, we have seen troubling reports that scientists working inside the NIH have been blocked from making any purchases — including basic supplies needed to keep their labs running. Temporary travel bans for all Health and Human Services staff have led to cancellations of important conferences, such as a gathering intended to spur the development of AI diagnostics to identify rare diseases.
Clearly, we hope the administration lifts the communications, travel and purchasing freezes and reschedules the canceled study sections as soon as possible so the grant process can resume. But the “how” is just as important as the “when.”
Academics grumble a lot about the NIH grant process. Yet it’s been designed and refined over the years with scientific rigor top of mind. The goal is to make sure federal funding supports labs that will not only study important questions but also produce meaningful results targeted to improve health while working with the highest level of integrity. Those criteria — and not political considerations — must remain at the forefront of funding decisions.
We know that protecting and improving the health of the people is a priority for many in the administration. We hope the president and his nominees recognize how critical the NIH is to that mission.
The NIH is the gold standard for biomedical research worldwide. It’s an economic engine, and it propels the scientific discoveries that help families to thrive, parents to watch their children grow, and our elders to age well and with dignity. We must work together to protect this critical engine of scientific progress.
John Quackenbush is a professor and chairperson in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. S. Bryn Austin is a professor and interim co-chairperson in the Chan School’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
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