383 Trials Stopped. 74,000 Patients Left Waiting.
Between late February and mid-August 2025, the Trump administration terminated 694 NIH grants across 24 of 26 institutes. That killed 383 active clinical trials testing treatments for cancer, heart disease, and brain disorders. Over 74,000 patients enrolled in those trials lost access to experimental treatments, some with no alternatives.
The National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities took the hardest hits. Prevention-focused studies and infectious disease trials were disproportionately targeted.
In the first months of 2026, NIH issued 66% fewer grant awards than the previous year. New RO1 grants, the agency’s most competitive research awards, dropped 61%.
Where the Damage Hits Hardest
| Research Area | Impact |
|---|---|
| Cancer trials | Hundreds halted, patients mid-treatment |
| Mental health research | Highest grant terminations of any institute |
| Minority health disparities | Institute proposed for elimination in FY2027 |
| Vaccine research | $500M in mRNA contracts canceled under RFK Jr. |
| Infectious disease | Disproportionately defunded |
| Early-career grants | Spending fell from $2.2B (2024) to $1.7B (2025) |
The Brain Drain Is Already Happening
More than 75% of scientists in a Nature poll said they were considering leaving the country. Applications from U.S. researchers to the European Research Council nearly tripled, from 60 in 2024 to 169 in 2026. Canada, China, Germany, and France are all running recruitment drives targeting displaced American scientists.
This is not hypothetical. When NIH funding disappears, labs close. Research teams dissolve.
Data collection stops permanently. Researchers with decades of expertise take jobs in London and Toronto and do not come back.
Every dollar of NIH funding generates $2.57 in economic activity. The proposed indirect cost cap alone would have eliminated $16 billion in economic output and 70,000 jobs.
Congress Fought Back. The White House Doubled Down.
Congress rejected the administration’s 40% NIH cut and passed a bipartisan FY2026 budget providing $48.7 billion, a $415 million increase. Courts blocked the administration’s attempt to cap indirect costs at 15%, and the Trump administration dropped the Supreme Court challenge in April 2026.
But the FY2027 budget proposal came back with a $5.8 billion cut and a plan to eliminate three NIH centers outright, including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The administration wants to shrink NIH from 27 institutes to 22.
The pattern is clear: propose extreme cuts, get blocked, propose them again.
What You Can Do
- Contact your senators and representative on Resistbot and tell them to reject the FY2027 NIH cuts. Name the $5.8 billion reduction. Name the three institutes slated for elimination.
- Ask your members of Congress whether they support the bipartisan NIH funding level from FY2026. Get them on the record.
- Share this brief with anyone in medicine, research, or public health. The people closest to this crisis need backup from outside the lab.
Read more about how federal health policy is being dismantled on our Healthcare and Science hub.
Sources
- STAT: National survey of NIH-funded researchers
- AJMC: NIH grant terminations disrupt 1 in 30 clinical trials
- Science: Odds of winning NIH grants plummet
- NPR: Federal funding delays are harming science irreparably
- PBS: NIH cuts affected over 74,000 patients
- STAT: Trump budget proposes $5B NIH cut for FY2027
- United for Medical Research: Economic impact of proposed cuts
- STAT: Brain drain fueled by research cuts