AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Scientific Officer Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH, issued the following statement regarding a lawsuit led by the AAMC, with other organizations, challenging the legality of the administration’s stated plan to make major cuts to federally funded research:
“Last night a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the AAMC’s request for a nationwide temporary restraining order, preventing a Feb. 7 notice from the NIH from going into effect. The AAMC, with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, and Greater New York Hospital Association, argued that a Feb. 7, 2025, notice from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is unlawful and would result in irreparable harm. The notice, issued Friday evening with an effective date of Monday, sought to implement ‘a standard indirect rate of 15% across all NIH grants for indirect costs in lieu of a separately negotiated rate for indirect costs in every grant.’
The AAMC is 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 AAMC lawsuit was filed in the same court as the lawsuit filed earlier yesterday by 22 State Attorneys General raising many of the same concerns and asking for the court to grant similar relief. The AAMC and its co-plaintiffs joined in the motion filed by the State Attorneys General seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the Feb. 7 notice from taking effect. Earlier yesterday, a temporary restraining order had been issued only for the 22 states that filed in the Attorneys General action. The AAMC is proud to have contributed to the effort that expanded this action nationwide."
View the AAMC's Feb. 8 statement on drastic cuts to NIH funded research.