Docs Alarmed by NIH Plan to Redirect Medical Research $$ to Pentagon

Infectious disease specialists are sounding the alarm about a Trump administration plan to eliminate a clinical research unit at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Democrats in Congress say the plan is for the Pentagon to tap into the funds for defense spending.

In a joint statement, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) said they “are concerned by a notice released Aug. 28 by the National Institutes of Health announcing a proposed overhaul of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ clinical research program with few details and a brief comment period. Changes of the magnitude suggested deserve a lengthier and meaningful opportunity for input from researchers, clinicians, community partners, and other stakeholders including Congress.”

The notice, which spanned only two pages, noted that “the goal for the reorganization is to abolish several offices and the Division of Clinical Research (DCR) and realign the clinical operations and oversight across multiple NIAID components.”

Recent Capitol Hill communications may explain where any savings from eliminating the DCR would go. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) issued a press release Thursday objecting to an interagency agreement — which she said was “not proactively shared” with Congress — in which the Department of Defense will tap money allocated to NIAID for use in defense spending.

“As if cancelling lifesaving medical research and clinical trials and firing cancer researchers en masse were not bad enough, the Trump administration is now trying to rob NIH of billions of dollars that Congress provided for medical research so that it can pad the Pentagon’s budget,” Murray said. “This outrageous agreement must be terminated immediately, and we need Republicans in Congress to join us in using their power to ensure that happens. We cannot allow this administration to shred patients’ hopes of new, lifesaving cures and treatments so that President Trump and [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth can secretively fund their own priorities in defiance of Congress.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said the funds had been appropriated for lifesaving research “intended to help Americans who are exposed to HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases.”

According to NIAID’s website, the DCR “plays an integral role in facilitating the efficient and effective performance of NIAID research programs on both the domestic and the international level,” with responsibilities including “oversight and management of intramural clinical research, program planning and management, regulatory monitoring and compliance, statistical consultation and research methodology, and clinical research capacity building.”

In the Federal Register notice, which was signed by NIAID Acting Director John Powers III, MD, the agency said the proposed reorganization “aims to better align with presidential priorities and to reflect the institute’s updated vision and revised mission focus while continuing important research.”

Interested parties could send in comments on the proposed reorganization from Sept. 14-18.

The notice gave this link for more information, but, as of Friday, the page that it linked to just repeated the dates that comments will be accepted and said that additional information will be available soon.

With such limited information to work with, “it is difficult to comment on how NIAID’s clinical research program may be affected by the proposed changes,” HIVMA Chair Anna Person, MD, told MedPage Today. “Since we have not seen the proposal, our concerns are focused on the process being used to rapidly advance a reorganization that involves abolishing the division and centers within NIAID, given there will only be 5 days to comment after details are made public. We believe NIH should be prioritizing the stabilization of long-standing and vital research infrastructure after a year and a half of unprecedented disruptions and instability in infectious diseases research, including major delays in clinical trial network renewal notices.”

NIAID did not respond by press time to an email seeking more details about the reorganization proposal.