OMRF talks effects of new policy seeking to limit certain NIH funding
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A form of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for medical research would be capped under a new Trump administration policy. A federal judge recently halted the plan amid lawsuits, but worry still remains among people whose research is powered by a lot of that funding.
"We're playing out all of the scenarios,” Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation President Andy Weyrich said.
There’s a sense of urgency at the OMRF. Like scientists everywhere, funding from the NIH powers their research. However, the new policy would cap, at 15 percent, what research institutions can get for supporting the work under their roof.
For example, if an OMRF researcher got $500,000 to study cancer, the institution where he works gets a percentage of those costs for things like the lab, equipment, deliveries, disposal and so on. Slashing that budget, according to Weyrich, is a huge roadblock.
"Wow, all these great discoveries where we're actually trying to cure cancer and heart disease and diabetes and Alzheimer's, and when we're seeing patients in clinical trials are automatically going to get stalled,” Weyrich said.
Weyrcih said the OMRF received $49 million from the NIH last fiscal year. The new cap would squeeze their budget by as much as $14 million.
"It certainly would make us pause on recruiting, our ability to retain the best folks, our ability to catalyze research with different programs will be significantly halted,” Weyrich said.
The impact extends to OU in Norman. University President Joe Harroz said in a message to the OU community that the move would “severely impact institutions' abilities to fund medical breakthroughs and novel therapies, as well as fulfill our educational mission of training and preparing the next generation of graduate students and student researchers."
For now, the issue is in the courts. There’s a lot hanging in the balance for researchers dreaming of big discoveries, but now are watching for cues from Washington.
"What we do here is such a great thing for everybody,” Weyrich said. “It's bipartisan in nature.”
According to NPR, some are defending the policy.
"University endowments have grown so enormously," says Carl Schramm, an economist at Syracuse University who studies scientific funding. "I think the federal government is basically saying, 'Why don't you put some of your skin in this game?"
Again, as mentioned, the policy was blocked by a federal judge. In the same NPR article in this story, lawsuits were filed by 22 Democratic Attorneys General who allege the policy is illegal. The next hearing on the situation is Feb. 21. Below is a recent grant received by the OMRF for Parkinson’s research for an example of the work they do.