BALTIMORE — Maryland joined 22 other states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, and other agencies, over cuts to medical research funding, the attorney general’s office announced Monday.
In a statement, Attorney General Anthony Brown said Maryland institutions could be impacted directly.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. DHHS oversees NIH.
The lawsuit comes after the NIH announced Friday that it would be limiting funding for overhead costs associated with research projects, including a 15% cap on indirect costs for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants.
According to the coalition of attorneys general, the NIH’s action violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
What are indirect costs?
Indirect costs concern funding needed for operations as it pertains to conducting research. According to the NIH, indirect costs cover administrative support staff, facilities, infrastructure, and other elements needed to conduct research projects.
The lawsuit alleges that the funding cuts would halt crucial research needed to cure and treat human diseases.
“A university also needs the infrastructure necessary to comply with legal, regulatory, and reporting requirements. These facilities costs cannot be attributed to any particular research project, but are still necessary for any research to occur. And university staff need administrative support, including clerical staff, IT support, cybersecurity, and data repositories, as well as staff to administer the university as a whole,” the lawsuit reads.
In a statement, the House Committee on Appropriations said the move would cause irreparable damage to ongoing research efforts – including developing cures and treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias, ALS, Diabetes, Mental Health disorders, opioid abuse, and more.
How would the funding cap impact Maryland directly?
The attorney general says the funding cap would directly impact public and private institutions in Maryland that conduct medical research, including the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB). According to the AG’s office.
More than $300 million in NIH funding to the University of Maryland College Park, UMB, and other higher education institutions in the state could be impacted by the NIH’s measure, the AG said.
The AG’s office said the proposed reduction of UMB’s indirect cost rate would eliminate $49.5 million in annual funding in NIH indirect and pass-through funding that UMB uses to support research programs.
“Maryland’s research institutions have pioneered treatments that have saved countless lives, but they can’t do this vital work without proper funding,” Brown said. “This decision not only jeopardizes Maryland jobs and our state’s position as a global leader in medical research, but it also delays or denies potentially lifesaving discoveries that could help our loved ones.”
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