PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey is among 22 states suing the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health to block an executive order to unilaterally cut federal funding for medical research projects throughout the country.
“The Trump administration’s attack on public health research funding is a direct attack on our state, which has long led the nation in medical and health innovations that have saved countless lives across our country,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin.
NIH, the primary source of federal funding for medical research in the United States, said on Friday it would slash indirect cost rates across the board to 15% — a rate Platkin says is significantly less than the cost required to perform medical research. The White House says, currently, the average for NIH projects is nearly 30%.
Indirect costs are the expenses that make biomedical research possible but are not attributable to any one project, including lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility costs.
Indirect cost reimbursements are negotiated with the federal government based on each institution's specific needs and codified in an executive agreement that governs all of that institution's federal grants.
By tossing these agreements, Platkin says, public health and medical advancements will be at risk as research institutions may have to suspend clinical trials, disrupt research programs, lay off workers and close labs.
The NIH made the cuts effective Monday, Feb. 10, the very next business day, leaving universities and institutions without any time to plan for the major budget gaps the cuts will cause.
“Our universities, labs, and research institutions have fought COVID-19, cancer, and many more issues of public interest, but now they have to fight the cruelty and shortsightedness of President Trump and his political appointees. We will fight this reckless and illegal action in court until this critical funding is restored,” Platkin said.
Many large charities limit or even prohibit reimbursement for indirect costs. For example, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, limits indirect cost funding to 12% of the project.
Delaware, Maryland and New York are also represented in the lawsuit.