Trump wipes out HIV research and grant cuts: “Bring us back to decades” | Trump administration

The federal government has cancelled dozens of grants to study new prevention methods HIV Scientists say it will remove progress to expand infections and access to care and eliminate the US outbreak.

More than 300 research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) last month end -65 of these were particularly relevant to researching advances in HIV care. Some scientists were informed of losing funds last Thursday. A division of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, NIH is the world's largest source of medical research funding, and many scientists are rushing to understand how to continue their work.

“The loss of this study is very likely to lead to a more generalized revival of HIV in the country,” said Julia Marcus, a Harvard Medical School professor who recently canceled two grants. “These dramatic cuts are rapidly destroying the infrastructure of scientific research in this country, and we are going to lose a generation of scientists.”

In 2012, the FDA approved Pre-Exposed Prophylaxis (PREP), an antiviral drug that has been highly successful in preventing new HIV infections. While this drug has been a powerful tool to contain the virus, inequality remains in accessing these drugs and maintaining daily treatment. Despite great advances, there are 30,000 new infectious diseases in the United States each year.

Many of the completed HIV-related studies focused on improving access to drugs such as PREP in communities with high infection rates, including trans women and black men. One of Marcus' projects was to look into whether making preparations available at counters would increase drug use in vulnerable communities.

“This study should focus on the populations that are most affected to influence and be relevant,” Marcus said.

However, this may be justification to reimburse so many HIV-related studies. The closing letter, reviewed by the Guardian on March 20, states that “so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) studies are often used to support illegal discrimination based on race and other protected characteristics, harming the health of Americans.”

National Institute health They did not expand the reason the grant ended in response to questions from the Guardian. “We are taking action to terminate research funding that is not in line with the priorities of the NIH and HHS. We are dedicated to restoring our traditions that support science based on the evidence of the gold standard.”

Many researchers have been unsure of the scale of cancellation since 2019. Donald Trump announcement His latest union has a commitment to eliminating the country's HIV epidemic over the next decade. As part of this initiative, he management We negotiated a contract with a pharmaceutical company to provide free preparations to 200,000 low-income patients.

“The scientific breakthrough brought once-delayed dreams within reach,” Trump said in his speech. “We'll defeat AIDS together in America.”

Amy Nun, a professor at Brown University School of Public Health, said she even proposed grants to fit the policy goals of the initiative, which geographically targeted HIV prevention efforts. One of her studies, which ended last week, focused on closing preparation disparities among African-American men in Jackson, Mississippi.

“They ultimately adopted those policies at the federal level,” Nun said. Trump has said he is the first president to end the epidemic. “Now they're downgrading their success. That's very strange.”

The total amount of NIH funds allocated to support the 65 grants was $35 million. Cancelling grants means that many people have taken years to work for their job, and they won't get all that money back for the administration. Some have already finished.

Nathaniel Albright learned last Tuesday that the NIH grant in favour of his doctoral studies had been cancelled, even though his project was already completed. Albright, a doctoral candidate at Ohio State University, is defending his dissertation at the end of the month. Still, Albright is concerned about how the cut will affect the future of the field.

“This created an environment in academia where my research trajectory is now considered high risk to the institution,” said Albright, who is currently struggling to find a postplat status at university.

Pamina Gorbach, an epidemiologist who teaches at the University of California in Los Angeles, followed hundreds of men who have lived with HIV in Los Angeles for ten years to learn their needs. She had been awarded a NIH grant to promote their treatment through a local clinic. Her funds were also cancelled last week.

“It's really devastating,” Golbach said. “If you live with HIV and you're not taking medication, do you know what will happen? You'll get sick and you'll die.”

According to Golbach, clinic staff in Los Angeles could be fired as a result of the cut. Others agreed that one immediate concern is the payment method for research staff. This is because funds from the grant will be frozen as soon as they are finished. NIH funds often constitute at least a portion of university professors' salaries, and said they are most wary of the impact on patient services and the loss of progress towards the end of the epidemic.

“This erases the entire population of people affected by the disease,” said Erin Karl, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, who lost the NIH grant last week. She added that discarding the entire disease category from the study has countless downstream effects on other healthcare.

“This goes back to us decades,” Karle said.