By Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has issued a nationwide order preventing the National Institutes of Health from changing how much the agency pays universities and medical schools for “indirect costs” that come along with research grants.
Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts issued the temporary restraining order late Monday, the same day she issued a similar order in a separate case that applied to 22 states.
The NIH change in policy, which would cap Facilities and Administrative costs at 15%, was broadly criticized by members of Congress and universities after the initial decision was announced Friday.
The rulings will put the NIH’s policy change on hold while the cases move through the federal court system.
The lawsuit that led to the nationwide halt, Association of American Medical Colleges v. National Institutes of Health, was filed Monday by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which represents 159 accredited medical schools throughout the country.
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, Inc. and Greater New York Hospital Association also joined the suit.
Kelley wrote the temporary restraining order “is justified to preserve the status quo pending a hearing” and that the organizations that filed the lawsuit would have experienced “immediate and irreparable injury” without the ruling.
There are two other lawsuits challenging the NIH’s decision to cap how much the agency pays for Facilities and Administrative fees at 15%, which is significantly lower than what many universities and medical schools have negotiated with NIH over the years. NIH is based in Bethesda, Maryland.
One of the lawsuits, Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. National Institutes of Health, was filed by attorneys general from 22 states and led to a temporary restraining order preventing the NIH from implementing the policy change in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
A third lawsuit, Association of American Universities v. Department of Health & Human Services, was filed by the Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, American Council on Education and numerous universities.
The AAU, APLU and ACE wrote in a joint statement announcing their lawsuit the NIH’s decision was “ill-conceived and self-defeating for both America’s patients and their families.”
“Besides harming the ability of research universities to continue doing critical NIH research that seeks out new and more effective approaches to treating cancer, heart disease, and dementia, among others, and translating basic science into cures, this cut would also undermine universities’ essential training of the next generation of biomedical and health science researchers,” they wrote. “The loss of this American workforce pipeline would be a blow to the U.S. economy, to American science and innovation, to patients and their families, and to our nation’s position in the world as a leader in medical research.”
All three cases were filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and assigned to Judge Kelley, who was nominated by then-President Joe Biden in 2021.
Kelley has scheduled in-person hearings for Feb. 21 for the two cases that currently have temporary restraining orders.
Association of American Medical Colleges President and CEO David J. Skorton and Chief Scientific Officer Elena Fuentes-Afflick wrote in a statement they are “pleased that the court agreed with our assertion that the notice would have resulted in irreparable harm to the research mission, leaving institutions no choice but to scale back research activities.”
“This could mean fewer clinical trials, less fundamental discovery research, and slower progress in delivering lifesaving advances to the patients and families that do not have time for any delay.”
The NIH writes on its website that it provides about “50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state.”
Last updated 11:47 a.m., Feb. 11, 2025
