Judge halts Trump's NIH funding cuts after state AGs file suit

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order against the National Institutes of Health, barring its attempt at unilaterally capping indirect costs paid for by the NIH at 15%, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a press release this afternoon.

“The court's swift action provides immediate relief to research and public health institutions throughout the commonwealth," Campbell said in the release. "This is an initial victory for every person and family counting on the life saving science funded by federal grants. I will not stop fighting for the people of Massachusetts, for their health care, and for the rule of law."

Related: Stanford, Harvard warn of Trump's NIH funding cuts

The restraining order came less than six hours after 22 attorneys general sued the Trump administration for violating laws that preserve NIH grants for medical research against arbitrary and unilateral cuts, the release said.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, is co-led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Massachusetts' Andrea Campbell and Michigan's Dana Nessel. Read the full complaint below.

On Feb. 7, the Trump administration announced it would cap "indirect costs" of medical and public health research at 15%, effective today, Campbell said in a press conference. The cap would affect everything from how university buildings, equipment and scientists that are indirectly related to specific NIH-funded research project are paid for.

During this morning's conference, Nessel announced that a judge in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island had already approved, "a few minutes ago" a temporary restraining order that would apply to the NIH funding cuts.

Campbell said the attorneys general will still need to review the Rhode Island ruling, but will still "press forward" on their indirect cost-specific lawsuit.

Raoul said in the press conference that "the 15% is an enormous and unprecedented shift, announced with no warning."

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The impact, nationwide could be $4 billion in cuts, he said, adding that the University of Illinois system alone would lose roughly $67 million annually.

Universities cannot function without cutting-edge labs, high-speed data and effective support staff, Raoul said. What's more, "it is simply illegal." He said that in 2017, Congress specifically rejected the idea of cuts to indirect costs and that every appropriations bill since has blocked HHS and NIH to use appropriated funds from altering indirect cuts.

The coalition of 22 attorneys general are all Democrats. In addition to Illinois Massachusetts and Michigan, the states suing are: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

This story first appeared in Crain's Chicago Business.