Federal Judge Extends Order Blocking NIH Medical Research Funding Cuts

The New York Times (2/21, Montague) reported, “A federal judge on Friday agreed to extend an order blocking the National Institutes of Health from reducing grant funding to institutions conducting medical and scientific research until she could come to a more lasting decision.” According to the Times, “Judge Angel Kelley of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts had temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s cuts from taking effect earlier this month, with that hold set to expire on Monday.” That led to “an urgent hearing on Friday in which states and associations representing those institutions urged her to consider halting the cuts more permanently.” The AP (2/21, Neergaard, Casey) reported the new NIH “policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses.”