Lifesaving Treatments at Risk Due to Federal Funding Freeze
Hundreds of medical studies are at risk of coming to a halt due to ongoing uncertainty about a blanket order freezing billions in federal grant payments and how intersecting executive orders are being applied across federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Approximately $30 million annually in NIH funding is awarded to interventional radiologists (IRs). These specialists use advanced imaging to see inside the body to pinpoint problems and deliver life-saving and life-restoring treatments for conditions such as cancer, stroke, aneurysm, blood clots, fibroids, chronic pain, and more.
Most federal IR research funding comes from the National Cancer Institute to explore new, minimally invasive, targeted treatments for cancers affecting the liver, colon, renal system, brain and lungs. These targeted treatments allow patients to live and work normally without the systemic side effects of chemotherapy, in some cases downstaging patients so they can become candidates for critical organ transplants.
NIH grants provide vital financial support to pay for some of these still-experimental treatments that insurance will not cover, including the cost of tests and scans that prove those treatments are safe and effective. Interruptions to funding disrupt patient enrollment and force enrolled patients to stop treatment or miss milestone follow-up visits prematurely. When patients are lost to follow-up, less evidence is collected to prove a treatment’s value. Researchers already find it difficult to ensure patients return for the proper evaluations, and funding disruptions will only exacerbate this issue. As a result, the American people may never know the true outcomes of the treatments we are developing, and those treatments may never be brought to market because of the inability to capture the evidence to support them in the eyes of federal regulators or insurers.
Federal grant funding is vital to seeding most groundbreaking research and has made the United States the leader in medical advancement. That position is at risk if grantees cannot rely on their funders to consistently deliver the promised funding. Congress must act to ensure that congressionally approved awards are paid out as required by contract to avoid losing vital opportunities to advance care, reduce costs, and save lives.
