University of Arizona medical school students perform research work in this undated photo. Photo courtesy University of Arizona College of Medicine
If the Trump administration succeeds in implementing the steep cuts to medical research grants that a court temporarily blocked on Monday, more than $250 million in grants to Arizona universities, research institutions and companies would be at risk.
That would amount to more than half of the nearly $495 million in active grants the National Institutes of Health has awarded to Arizona entities.
If those cuts are implemented, “cutting edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt,” a group of 22 attorneys general, including Arizona AG Kris Mayes, wrote in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the cuts.
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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.
Hours after the suit was filed on Feb. 10, a federal judge blocked the NIH from implementing the change. The judge, Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, said the order will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. The parties return to court for an in-person hearing on Feb. 21.
The Arizona Mirror’s analysis of NIH data shows that nearly 80% of the 754 active grants awarded to Arizona institutions and companies have indirect costs greater than 15%. All told, those 607 affected grants amount to $254 million.
The cuts would hit all three Arizona universities hard. More than 300 of the University of Arizona’s 376 grants would be affected, totalling $126 million of the university’s $229 million in grants.
In a message to the university, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Tomás Díaz de la Rubia said the school estimates it could lose more than $40 million in research funds that “is crucial to maintaining our nation’s economic and national security advantage” through research that has made the United States “the most technologically advanced nation in the world.”
Likewise, 162 of Arizona State University’s 194 grants have indirect costs above the 15% threshold, placing nearly $56 million of the school’s $92 million of grants in jeopardy.
And Northern Arizona University stands to see cuts to 19 of its 22 grants, amounting to almost $11 million of the nearly $16 million the school was awarded.
The grants in question that would be on the chopping block include research into Alzheimer’s treatments, asthma, reversing hearing loss, opioid addiction treatment for new mothers, developing new ways to scan human brains and preventing cancer for Indigenous people.
Spokespeople for Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state universities, provided statements that said they are monitoring the NIH changes. None responded to follow-up questions seeking a more detailed response. A University of Arizona spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The three state schools are far from the only research institutions that will be affected. The Mayo Clinic in Arizona could see major cuts to its grants: 39 of 47 grants spend more than 15% on indirect costs, putting $15.6 million of its almost $24 million at risk. Other impacted organizations include St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Banner Health.
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