A federal judge temporarily blocked a new policy from the Trump administration, which would cut $4 billion in National Institutes of Health research funding, after North Carolina and 21 other states filed suit against the move Monday.
Massachusetts District Judge Angel Kelley, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden in 2021, halted the proposed policy that would cap NIH research funds’ “indirect costs rates” for “facilities” and “administration” costs, including buildings, maintenance and support staff, at 15%. Historically, the maximum indirect cost rate has been up to 70%.
The lawsuit came after Susan Collins, R-Maine and chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said the policy — which would effectively axe the funds — violated a March appropriations law. The plaintiffs, all Democratic attorneys general, asserted that NIH’s move goes against the Administrative Procedure Act and the will of Congress, which has included a provision to prevent changes to indirect cost rate changes since 2018.
“[The] unlawful action by the National Institutes of Health … will devastate critical public health research at universities and research institutions in the United States,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit. “Without relief from NIH’s action, these institutions’ cutting edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt.”
These research cuts largely impact U.S. research institutions, and the Triangle’s Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are no exception. Both institutions rank among the top 15 recipients in NIH grant sizes.
In fiscal year 2024, the University received $580,240,770 in funding across 1,008 awards from the NIH. Just over seven months into FY 2025, the University's funding amounts to $75,795,108 across 138 awards.
The NIH funds many research institutes at Duke, including one of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Centers, Center on Health and Society and the Center for Global Women’s Health Technology.
“The proposed draconian cuts to essential health research would have a devastating impact on medical schools, nursing schools and universities, including here in the N.C. Research Triangle,” wrote Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact at the Duke Global Health Institute, on Bluesky.
Robert Lefkowitz, chancellor's distinguished professor of medicine and professor of biochemistry and chemistry at the Duke University Medical Center and Nobel Prize recipient, uses indirect funds to pay for and maintain advanced microscopes for his research on medicines for cancer and other diseases. He noted in a Friday New York Times article that the federal dollars provided to conduct this research are essential, claiming that no researcher could afford the costs to upkeep such equipment.
“I think the American people need to understand how devastating it would be if this goes through,” Lefkowitz told the New York Times. “A lot of research would just have to stop; I can’t imagine that the shortfall could be met from other sources.”
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Michelle Voicu is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.