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NIH cuts could affect hundreds of medical studies at the Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota • Minnesota Reformer [1]
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Date: 2025-02-10
Minnesota and 21 other states have sued the National Institutes of Health over the Trump administration’s steep cuts to grants that fund medical research in the United States.
If those cuts are implemented, “cutting edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt,” the attorneys general write.
The cuts involve “indirect costs,” which are the expenses of maintaining the laboratories, computer services, staffing and other administrative overhead of academic research. Institutions currently negotiate these costs individually with the federal government.
The NIH’s average indirect cost rate typically runs around 28%, meaning that every dollar of direct research funding is accompanied by 28 additional cents in indirect funding. The new order would cap that rate at 15%, effectively slashing NIH indirect payments in half.
In Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota are the chief recipients of NIH research grants. A preliminary estimate by education policy analyst James Murphy finds that the U stands to lose around $62 million annually under the new formula, while the Mayo Clinic would lose about $54 million.
Other Minnesota institutions receiving NIH funding include hospitals, private companies doing medical research, and the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, according to NIH reports. All told, Minnesota entities stand to lose around $117 million a year, according to Murphy’s estimates.
“The NIH funds critical research into fighting chronic and catastrophic disease in every corner of our country,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “Its work has an impact on countless families across America and helps keep us healthy and extend our lives.”
Rebecca Cunninghan, president of the University of Minnesota, wrote in a letter to colleagues that the cuts are a “direct attack” on the university’s mission, and that they will “slow and limit medical breakthroughs that cure cancer and address chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.”
The NIH website lists more than 659 University of Minnesota projects funded by the grants in fiscal year 2024. They include research into organ transplantation; elderly patients’ ability to fight off infections; the prevalence of blood cancers in Minnesota; Parkinson’s disease treatments; and immunotherapy treatments for certain types of cancer.
The grants also fund hundreds of studies at the Mayo Clinic, which in recent years have included research into treatments for degenerative brain disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, kidney disease and diabetes.
“NIH is obligated to carefully steward grant awards to ensure taxpayer dollars are used in ways that benefit the American people and improve their quality of life,” the agency said in the statement announcing the cuts.
Ellison has also joined lawsuits against the Trump administration’s executive orders on gender-affirming care, birthright citizenship, and overall federal funding.
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https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/02/10/nih-cuts-could-affect-hundreds-of-medical-studies-at-the-mayo-clinic-and-university-of-minnesota/
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