At Penn, NIH funding has supported work on CAR T-cell therapy, mRNA technology, rare disease treatments, and cancer therapies.
Credit: Max MesterInterim Penn President Larry Jameson addressed funding cuts recently introduced by the National Institutes of Health and Penn’s subsequent lawsuit against the NIH in an email to the University community on Tuesday.
Jameson’s email follows a Feb. 7 directive from the NIH that capped “indirect costs” that provide funding for overhead research costs — such as lab spaces and support staff — at 15%. In his message, Jameson highlighted that the University stands to lose $240 million from the proposed funding cuts and reiterated Penn’s commitment to “identify solutions to minimize the impact” of the federal action.
“This is not simply an accounting change; it is far more serious with significant implications for Penn’s research programs,” Jameson wrote. “The effect of this sudden and major change in research support will be to severely harm our highly impactful research mission.”
Penn’s previously agreed-upon rate for indirect costs was 62.5% of the basic grant value.
“This rate will allow grant recipients a reasonable and realistic recovery of indirect costs while helping NIH ensure that grant funds are, to the maximum extent possible, spent on furthering its mission,” the NIH wrote in the directive.
In his message, Jameson cited Penn’s numerous NIH-funded initiatives, including research on CAR T-cell therapy, mRNA vaccine technology, gene therapy cures, and drug development. He wrote that the federal government’s reduction in funding “would blunt this critical, life-saving work.”
Penn joined 12 other universities nationwide on Feb. 10 as a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit against the NIH led by the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities that challenges the change to the cost policies in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
“Besides its devastating impact on medical research and training, the proposed actions run afoul of the longstanding regulatory frameworks governing federal grants and foundational principles of administrative law,” AAU wrote in a press release announcing the suit. “This action is ill-conceived and self-defeating for both America’s patients and their families as well as the nation as a whole.”
The suit calls funding cuts a “flagrantly unlawful action” by the NIH that would “devastate medical research at America’s universities.” It also labels the directive as an “affront to the separation of powers,” referencing a previous executive attempt to pass the funding cuts that was blocked by Congress using “its constitutional power of the purse.”
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Massachusetts Angel Kelley granted a temporary restraining order on the funding reduction. A hearing has been set for Feb. 21.
Jameson also pointed to the formation of an internal “planning group” that will “address the many changes coming out of Washington.”
“While we don’t yet know how these administrative and judicial actions will evolve, I want to emphasize that Penn has long been a leader in research, resilience, and adaptation,” Jameson concluded. “Our community is strong, and we will continue our groundbreaking research, advocate forcefully, and take the steps needed to sustain our mission.”
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