Amid a flurry of recent developments surrounding disruptions to federally funded biomedical research, it has been difficult to estimate the full scope of the cuts. A new analysis adds some clarity, finding that the Trump administration terminated $1.81 billion in National Institutes of Health grants in just over one month.
Six notes:
- While the analysis offers the most comprehensive look at cuts so far, researchers emphasized that the numbers are still in flux. For example, some grants have been temporarily reinstated due to court orders. Still, it offers the most real-time view of the scope of grant terminations, Michael Liu, lead study author and a student at Boston-based Harvard Medical School, told NBC News.
- A total of 694 NIH grants were terminated between Feb. 28 and April 8, amounting to $1.81 billion, according to the analysis, published May 8 in JAMA Network Open. This includes more than $544 million that had not been spent.
The analysis drew on data from HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System, a comprehensive database of terminated grants. Researchers then linked that data to the NIH’s RePORTER dataset, which includes information on active grants. The study was led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Researchers from Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., also contributed.
- Grants were terminated across 24 NIH institutes and centers focused on cancer, aging, diabetes, children’s health and other areas. Grants administered by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities have been hit hardest. That institute has lost nearly $224 million of its roughly $755 million in grants, or about 30%, according to the analysis.
- The analysis showed larger grants that fund major clinical trials were more likely to be terminated, but it is unclear if those types of grants were directly targeted, Mr. Liu told NBC News.
About 20% of the terminated grants were classified as early career grants.
“These grants are really critical for early career researchers and the next generation of researchers to become independent investigators,” Mr. Liu told Science News on May 8. - Of the 210 recipient institutions, New York City-based Columbia University had the most grants terminated at 157. The university on May 6 announced it is laying off 180 researchers whose work was funded by the affected grants. In March, the White House pulled $400 million — including $250 million in NIH funding — from Columbia over what it described as the university’s inadequate response to antisemitic harassment on its campus. Columbia is in negotiations with the federal government to restore its funding.
- The analysis follows President Donald Trump’s newly released budget proposal for fiscal 2026, which calls for lowering NIH funding from $48 billion to $27 billion. The proposal has sparked outcry from leaders in the medical research community who say such cuts would be detrimental to the nation’s research infrastructure.
“The stunningly impractical proposed cut to the National Institutes of Health is incongruent with decades of bipartisan support for investment in biomedical research funded by the agency,” the Association of American Medical Colleges said in a statement following the budget proposal’s release. “This commitment has made the United States the world leader in medical advancements that not only have helped all Americans remain healthy but also generated economic development in communities nationwide.”