Overview
- The JAMA Internal Medicine analysis found 383 of 11,008 NIH-funded trials lost support between Feb. 28 and Aug. 15, with 1 in 30 projects affected and 74,311 people enrolled in trials that were active but no longer recruiting when funding ended.
- Infectious-disease studies were hit hardest, with 14.4% losing support, followed by respiratory (5.8%) and cardiovascular trials (5%), and projects outside the United States and in the Northeast were disproportionately affected.
- Authors and experts warned of disrupted care, compromised data quality, and ethical risks for volunteers who lost access to medications, monitoring, or ongoing interventions.
- An HHS spokesperson said the study mischaracterizes grant management and asserted that terminations reflected a shift away from ideological agendas toward high-urgency research priorities.
- Independent tracker Grant Witness reports thousands more projects labeled as impacted, notes conflicting federal records, and says new terminations largely stopped after the Oct. 1 shutdown, while some grants have been restored through court rulings or institutional support.