Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Diana DeGette (First District of Colorado)
Washington Post: The Trump-Kennedy cuts at NIH will crush our leadership in biomedicine.
When Donald Trump accepted the 2024 GOP nomination for president, he included in his speech the importance of American leadership in biomedical innovation. “We’re going to get to the cure for cancer and Alzheimer’s and so many other things,” he said. “We’re so close to doing something great. But we need a leader that will let it be done.”
Trump is failing to be that leader. In late March, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a U.S. DOGE Service directed restructuring of HHS, which included firing 10,000 staff and combining vital agencies. The men and women fired included staff who support research into groundbreaking cures and treatments.
Eliminating such a large portion of the HHS workforce will put the lives of millions of Americans at risk as lifesaving cures and treatments are pushed further into the future and public health takes a back seat to personal grievance and paranoia.
As the authors of the 21st Century Cures Act, adopted by Congress in 2016, we are mortified at these extreme actions and what they will do to the future of American biomedical innovation.
America did not get to be a world leader in biomedical research by accident. When we were crafting that law, we sat down with Francis Collins, then the director of the National Institutes of Health, and asked him what he needed to propel biomedical research forward and speed up the development of new treatments and cures.
Together, a Democrat and a Republican, we authored and enacted the bill, passing through the House by a vote of 392-26 and through the Senate by a vote of 94-5 in 2016. The measure strengthened the NIH, spurred innovation and set the stage for lifesaving medical breakthroughs.
Yet, today, the NIH has been paralyzed. Grant awards slowed dramatically in part because advisory councils had been frozen for months, and many critical grants to research institutions have been canceled.
Even worse, the Trump administration is firing thousands across HHS, causing chaos and confusion as researchers are reportedly waiting for the email that says they no longer have a job. They are forcing out highly respected leaders like Peter Marks, one of the top vaccine officials at HHS. His resignation letter speaks for itself: “I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency. … However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
Kennedy is making clear that he does not trust the science, and that is going to ruin our ability to lead in biomedical research.
Critical research on the next frontier of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes is being canceled. PhD programs are rescinding offers of admission because of uncertainty. And the pipeline of young, brilliant scientists — our next generation of biomedical pioneers — is in jeopardy.
This is a crisis for American public health. From 2010 to 2019, NIH funding contributed to 354 out of 356 new drug approvals. NIH-supported research has driven progress in cancer treatments, Type 1 diabetes management and countless other medical breakthroughs that have improved and saved lives.
Without a strong NIH, the biopharmaceutical industry stagnates, medical advancements stall and the United States risks falling behind in the race for the next generation of treatments and cures. That is why we call on Trump, Kennedy and newly confirmed NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to take direction from the president’s 2024 own nomination speech.
The price of the administration’s action is already adding up. Just recently, NIH scientists published a new paper on a breakthrough toward using a patient’s own cells to combat gastrointestinal cancers. However, that work is in jeopardy because layoffs hit the NIH the same day that paper was published.
Also caught in the layoffs at HHS are those responsible for research into cures and treatments for Alzheimer’s. Reducing federal funding for this research is going to delay lifesaving cures and reduce hope for the Americans living with Alzheimer’s and their families who care for them.
We need leaders who recognize the value of the NIH and the minds who fuel our biomedical research. All of us — research institutions, industry, congressional leaders and patients — should support the lifesaving work done by the NIH and by American scientists and researchers.
Bhattacharya and Kennedy have a choice. They can set aside past grievances and political disputes to ensure that the U.S. remains the world’s premier biomedical research center. Or they can follow misguided beliefs and allow paralysis and division to imperil America’s advantage in science and research.
Diana DeGette, a Democrat, represents Colorado’s 1st Congressional District in the House. Fred Upton is a former Republican congressman from Michigan.
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