Judge stymies Trump attempt to slash medical research funding

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a nationwide block Wednesday on an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to slash grant funding administered by the National Institutes of Health that pays for medical research at universities and laboratories in Colorado and across the country.

The temporary injunction from U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley came as a result of a February lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen attorneys general, including Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who argued that Trump’s plan to cap, and therefore drastically reduce, previously negotiated reimbursements to institutions for indirect costs related to medical research was unlawful.

Trump’s attempt to block federal research funding “impacts thousands of existing grants, totaling billions of dollars across all 50 states — a unilateral change over a weekend, without regard for on-going research and clinical trials,” Kelley wrote in her order. “The imminent risk of halting life-saving clinical trials, disrupting the development of innovative medical research and treatment, and shuttering of research facilities, without regard for current patient care, warranted the issuance of a nationwide temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo, until the matter could be fully addressed before the Court.”

Weiser praised the court’s decision after Kelley’s order was issued Wednesday afternoon.

“This is a major win for research institutions in Colorado and across the country that rely on NIH funding to conduct innovative research and drive our economy,” he said in a prepared statement. “Colorado is known for its groundbreaking medical advancements that have improved and saved countless lives. I’m pleased with the ruling and will continue to make sure that the administration makes these research funds available so that we remain a leader in medical research.”

University of Colorado president Todd Saliman told Colorado Public Radio last month that the proposed cuts, had they happened last year, would have eliminated more than $85 million in funding for the CU system, which conducts medical research at the Boulder campus and at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Trump’s proposal likely would have also eliminated millions of dollars in reimbursements for medical research at Colorado State University.

CPR reported that Colorado labs, universities and other institutions collectively receive more than half-billion dollars in annual NIH funding. 

“The NIH is the primary source of federal funding for medical research in the United States. Medical research funding by NIH grants have led to innumerable scientific breakthroughs, including the discovery of treatment for cancers of all types and the first sequencing of DNA,” Weiser’s office said in a statement Wednesday. “Additionally, dozens of NIH-supported scientists have earned Nobel Prizes for their groundbreaking scientific work.”

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