Nih announces a new financing guideline that rattles medical researchers: shots

A laboratory that examined the sickle cell disease in the cell and molecular therapeutica of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, on February 8, 2024 in Bethesda, MD, on February 8, 2024 at the National Institutes of Health.

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The National Institutes of Health limit an important type of financing for medical research at universities, medical faculties, research hospitals and other scientific institutions.

In the Last step From the Trump administration Influence of scientific researchAccording to NIH, the agency limits funding for “indirect costs” to 15% of the grants. This is far below the many institutions that maintain buildings and equipment and pay employees and other overhead costs. For example, Harvard receives 68% and Yale receives 67% according to NIH.

The NIH says that the new guideline, which marks a significant change in the promotion of agency research, is more likely to correspond to private foundations in the areas of private foundations.

“Most private foundations that fund research essentially deliver lower indirect costs than the federal government, and the universities willingly accept grants from these foundations,” says NIH in a message published on Friday in which the change was announced.

“Although the subsidiary, in particular” new or inexperienced organizations “, uses scholarships to cover indirect costs such as overhead … NIH is obliged to carefully control the awards to ensure their quality of life,” says the announcement.

The NIH says that the change will apply to both current and future grants, and even suggests that the new guideline would apply retrospectively. In response to questions on Saturday, the Department of Health and Human Services, which is monitoring NIH, informed NPR that HHS “had the authority to retrospectively make these changes for current grants and to oblige the scholarship holders to have the previously surviving major costs To return “while you return the excess overhead”, to commit to carrying these changes retrospectively “, while the scholarship holders have to return”, do not currently select “Civil servants” so as not to do so in order not to do the implementation of the to facilitate new installments “. “We will continue to evaluate this political choice and whether it is in the best interest of the American taxpayer.”

In 2023, Nih issued more than 35 billion US dollars for almost 50,000 grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical faculties and other research institutions in the USA, according to the agency. This includes 9 billion US dollars for indirect costs.

The new policy that comes into force on Monday is convicted by many researchers.

“This is a steady way to cripple life -saving research and innovation.” Matt OwensPresident of the Council for Government Relations, an association of research universities and academic medical centers, said in a statement. “Reimbursement of institutions and administrative expenses are part of the total costs for the implementation of world -class research.”

Owens says his organization “carefully checks this change of guidelines because it contradicts the current law and guidelines”.

“America’s competitors will enjoy this self -inflicted wound,” says Owens. “We ask the leaders of NIH to abolish this dangerous policy before their damage from Americans can be felt.”

These feelings were repeated by other medical researchers.

“We are all upset,” Dr. George DaleyThe Dean of the Harvard Medical School wrote NPR in an e -mail. “This would decimate medical research.”

The announcement comes, how many researchers are already anxious because of Other steps that the new administration has takenIncluding limitation of communication and travel by NIH and other federal health agencies and freezing some research grants.