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Trump’s attempted NIH indirect cost funding cuts could have major impact at Mass. colleges, hospitals
The order was temporarily blocked after Massachusetts and 21 other states filed a lawsuit in federal court opposing the funding cuts.
The National Institutes of Health announced Friday that it would cut funding for “indirect costs” at universities, medical centers, and other research grant recipients effective Monday. But, a lawsuit from 22 state attorneys general, Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell included, led a federal judge to temporarily block the cut.
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Indirect costs include administrative, facility, and other expenses — anything not directly linked to advancing the goals of research — though many recipients rely on those baseline operating costs being covered by that funding.
An announcement issued by the Office of the Director of the NIH outlining the changes said the U.S. “should have the best medical research in the world.”
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“It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead,” said the announcement from Acting Director Matthew Memoli, who started in the position last month.
The new policy would set the rate of support for indirect costs at 15% for new and existing grants, significantly lower than the current rates, which often top 50%. Harvard, for instance, previously used about 69% of its NIH grant for indirect costs, according to a post shared by the NIH on X.
“This change will save more than $4B,” it said.
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But, having funding to cover those indirect costs is essential for institutions around the country, said Jeffrey Flier, a professor at Harvard Medical School.
Flier, a former dean of the medical school who started his career as a researcher at the NIH, pointed out in an interview with Inside Medicine that many of the institutions set to be affected by the funding cut are “in the radar of the government for punishment, retribution…for all kinds of things” outside the scope of biomedical research.
“The inmates are running the asylum. There is no intelligence, there is no seriousness,” he said.
Campbell sued the Trump administration Monday alongside 21 other state AGs, including every New England state except New Hampshire, The Boston Globe reported. U.S. District Judge for Massachusetts Angel Kelley set a hearing for Feb. 21, The New York Times reported.
Senator Ed Markey, top Democrat on the Primary Health and Pensions Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, called NIH funding “the lifeblood of Massachusetts’ innovation economy,” crediting it with creating jobs, delivering care, and providing hope to families.
“Instead of working to keep the American economy on the cutting edge, the Trump administration is bullying the Bay State and hamstringing U.S. leadership in medical research,” he said in a statement. “Trump and Musk are cutting the research to cure the diseases that will soon overwhelm our ability to pay for treating millions who will be afflicted by these very same diseases.”
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On X, Markey said Trump and Musk “are breaking the law.”
NIH money has historically funded a significant portion of hospital and university expenses in Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital together received more than a billion dollars in the fiscal year 2024.
A spokesperson for Mass General Brigham said the healthcare system is “currently reviewing to determine what, if any, impacts this may have.”
Harvard University President Alan Garber issued a statement that described the situation as “deeply concerning.”
Scientific and medical breakthroughs, he said, depend on the people conducting the research and the materials and space they use to do so. As Flier noted, not having these indirect costs covered would spell trouble for Harvard as well as “nearly every research university in our nation,” Garber said.
“The discovery of new treatments would slow, opportunities to train the next generation of scientific leaders would shrink, and our nation’s science and engineering prowess would be severely compromised,” he said in the statement.
The university received $76.4 million from the NIH in 2024. Its medical school received $171.6 million and its school of public health received $156.3 million.
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MIT, which received $112.3 million last year, has joined a coalition that includes the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, the Association of American Universities, and a number of AAU member institutions in filing a lawsuit “seeking to block these indiscriminate cuts from taking effect,” its president, Sally Kornbluth, said in an online letter to the MIT community.
At MIT alone, she said, NIH funding goes to research on treatments and cures for diseases and disorders including cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lyme disease, and autism.
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