California joined 21 Democratic States on Monday in a trial to stop the discounts of billions of dollars in NIH funding that supports medical research, alleging that the action will injure Americans who will benefit from vital medical discoveries in cancer, diabetes and other major diseases.
The pursuit, filed with the Massachusetts district court, asks a judge to force the National Institutes of Health to interrupt $ 4 billion in universities and other research institutions, alleging that the loss of funding “will train Releases, the suspension of clinical trials, disruption of current research programs and laboratory closings. »»
UC president Michael Drake said in a statement on Monday that the cuts would be a “devastating blow” and that the university was “ready to fight”.
The University of California and California State University – the main recipients in the financing of NIH research – are not part of the prosecution. But UC officials filed a statement in support of the case and said they would support other proceedings than university research groups can file.
The NIH policy announced on Friday evening reduces more than half of its expenses for the general costs linked to research grants. Called “indirect funding”, money pays for research supplies, buildings, public services, support staff and other costs.
The trial – tabled by states such as Arizona, Michigan, New York, Hawaii and Massachusetts – alleys that NIH cuts are counted in federal law. He cites part of a 2018 credits law which prohibits the NIH from making “unilateral differences in relation to negotiated rates” in its financing of general costs to institutions. This part of the budgetary rule “has remained in force through each law of credits governing the HHS to date,” said the prosecution, referring to the Ministry of Health and Social Services under which the NIH operates.
The Trump administration “violates the law” and wants to “avoid funding for medical research that helps develop new remedies and treatments for diseases”, California Atty. General Rob Bonta said in a statement announcing the prosecution, which was filed against the Ministry of Health and Social Services and NIH.
The NIH led the Times to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to comment on the prosecution. An HHS official refused to comment on the prosecution because he is under dispute.
The NIH grants more than $ 35 billion in annual funding for a wide range of medical research on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson, heart disease and studies on military veterans and trauma, among other health conditions.
California universities are among the largest beneficiaries of NIH subsidies in the country and UC receives more than half of the NIH distributions in the state. Stanford, Caltech, USC and the CSU also receive important research subsidies.
“The issues are particularly high here in California. Ours is a state known as a national and global leader in vital biomedical research, “said Bonta. “I will not allow the Trump administration to compromise extraordinary work at the moment by scientists, academics, health professionals and other workers.”
What the NIH cut the target
From Monday, indirect financing sponsored by the NIH will be capped at 15% of subsidies, against 57% that many UCLA research projects receive and the 64% granted to UC San Francisco, which has the rate The highest in the UC system.
The new policy would affect subsidies supporting in progress and news.
By announcing the cuts, the NIH involved on a publication on social networks and on its website that universities with large grants spent too much money from taxpayers in general costs.
A grapht displayed on the NIH X account has shown the endowments of several billion dollars of Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins next to their indirect financing rates. Harvard’s was the highest at 69%. By comparison, the NIH cited private foundations, including the Chan Zuckerberg initiative and the Gates Foundation, saying that their general costs are 15% or less.
“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” said NIH in the advice published on its website. “It is therefore essential to guarantee that as many funds as possible is towards direct scientific research costs rather than general administrative costs.”
In an email at Times on Monday, HHS spokesperson Andrew G. Nixon said that “most of these higher education institutions already have billions of dollars.” He also declared that the ministry had the power to ensure that universities reimburse “the excess general costs they had previously received”, but decided not to do so.
The ministry “will continue to assess” the “choice of police policy and if it is in the best interest of the American taxpayer,” the email said.
Why researchers say that funds are essential
University leaders and medical researchers say that money, although labeled “indirect funding”, is essential for their work and pays for vital science of continuous life – to ensure the appropriate storage of samples organic to keep animals live for medical trials.
The trial echoes their concerns.
“To carry out research, a university needs buildings and must maintain these buildings and provide them with heat and electricity,” said the trial. “A university also needs the infrastructure necessary to comply with legal, regulatory and declaration requirements. These costs of installations cannot be awarded to a particular research project, but are always necessary for any research to occur. »»
The trial said that the administrative support of the university, in particular office staff, IT support, cybersecurity and data servers, “helps to make research possible without being attributable to a subsidy or a specific project” .
The funding rates are negotiated in the agreements between the government and the universities, the trial, but have now been unilaterally modified.
“No law allows NIH to unilaterally modify all retroactively current subsidies,” says the file. “No power of this type has been transmitted by the congress here. Indeed, the congress explicitly limited the authority of the NIH to modify the indirect cost rates retroactively. »»
The trial adds that the Ministry of Health and Social Services also has its own regulations which prohibit the NIH from making “blind changes” to subsidies. The pursuit alleys that the NIH “acted beyond its statutory authority”.
What is at risk in California
The NIH provided $ 2.6 billion $ 4.2 billion in Federal UC awards last year, with its San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles campuses receiving major part of the funding.
Stanford obtained $ 613 million during the same period. The USC collected more than $ 356 million in NIH funds last year. In the 23 CSU campuses, NIH prices totaled $ 158 million last year. Caltech received more than $ 62 million.
“Like the dozens of institutions across the country, the University of California has relied on NIH grants to pursue vital research that benefits the Americans nationally,” said Drake. “The cuts of this magnitude would bring a devastating blow to the research and innovation company of our country, undermine our global competitiveness and, if it is authorized to move forward, it will eventually delay or derail the progress towards Treatment and remedies for many of the most serious illnesses that remain in place today.
“It is not only an attack on science, but against American health largely,” said Drake.
In a press release, USC officials said the changes had placed its “endangered” medical research and that “we are working in close collaboration with partner organizations to approach this evolving environment so that we continue our work to account of the public good ”.
Jason Maymon, a spokesperson for the CSU, said in a statement that the cuts threatened “the future of students’ innovation and scientific progress”.
“The federal funding for grants is vital for the CSU teaching and research mission, which takes up some of the most urgent challenges of the company in matters of health, agriculture, water, fire prevention and fire prevention and fire prevention and fire prevention and fire prevention and fire prevention cybersecurity, “said Maymon.
In a statement on Saturday, Stanford managers declared that the cuts would amount to $ 160 million a year at university, affecting the “construction of the laboratory space, the purchase and maintenance of scientific tools and Research IT ”.
“Indirect costs are the way the government is investing in research infrastructure for the nation and is vital for our research activities,” said the message of the campus signed by Jenny Martinez, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Lloyd Minor and Vice-Prévosant and Dean of Research David Studdert.
California Daily Newspapers
