The Trump administration has cancelled funds for dozens of research seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that could cause a future pandemic.
The government’s rationale is that, according to internal NIH documents viewed by the New York Times, the community’s pandemic has ended and “provides a cause for the end of COVID-related grants.”
However, the research was not merely about Covid. 9 finished Award-funded center We will conduct research on antiviral drugs to combat so-called priority pathogens that could create an entirely new pandemic.
“This includes anti-viral projects designed to cover a wide range of families that could cause outbreaks or pandemics,” said a senior NIH official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Vaccine research also didn’t focus on Covid, but on other coronaviruses that would one day jump from animals to humans.
Describing all studies as COVID-related is “completely inaccurate and merely a way to reduce infectious disease research,” officials said. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the NIH is focusing too much on infections, officials noted.
The funding suspension was first reported Science and Nature. The cancellation surprised scientists who relied on government support.
“The idea that there’s no need for further research to learn how to treat health issues caused by the coronavirus and prevent future pandemics is because “Covid-19 is over” is ridiculous,” says Pamela Bjorkman, a structural biologist at Caltech, who was studying the new vaccine.
The goal of the project was to prepare vaccines and drugs if a new pandemic hits it, rather than developing valuable months from scratch.
“In the last pandemic, we were really knocking down our pants,” said Paul Vienias, a virologist at Rockefeller University, working with Dr. Bjorkman.
“And unless you learn that lesson and prepare better for the next pandemic, you’ll rarely do better than last time.”
Dr. Beanius, Dr. Bjorkman and his colleagues were developing a vaccine that could protect them from a wide range of coronavirus species.
Researchers have discovered new strategies for caxing the immune system and learned how to recognize molecular features common to one or more viruses. The results of animal experiments were promising.
But now, their funds have been cut suddenly, and scientists say they doubted they could build on those outcomes. Dr. Vienias said the fire made him “angry, disappointed and frustrated.”
Other scientists were working on antiviral therapy, part of a program launched in 2021.
$577 million With support from the NIH, the lab’s nationwide network was studying how the virus was replicated and searching for drugs that could block them.
The researchers focused on the Viridae family, which contains the most worrying known pathogens, such as Ebola and Nipah virus. Scientists discovered many promising molecules and were moving forward towards clinical trials.
Reuben Harris, a molecular virologist at UT Health San Antonio, said the promising compounds revealed by the program include antiviral drugs that stop Ebola-related viruses from entering cells.
“We can deploy to help a lot of people quickly,” Dr. Harris said.
Several compounds appeared to work against many viral families. “We’ve seen a lot of experience in the world,” said Nevan Krogan, a systems biologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
On Wednesday morning, Dr. Krogan and dozens of colleagues gathered in the campus meeting room to confirm their results. And they also discussed what they could now, if any.
“One student asked me, ‘Well, I booked an experiment with this microscope tomorrow – can I do that?” “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ ”
Dr. Harris said that without ongoing support, the promising drugs he and others have discovered will not move into clinical trials. “It’s tragic – I don’t have too many words to explain it now,” he said.
In 2023, Kennedy said he wanted to take it. “break” From infectious disease research, instead focuses on chronic diseases.
Jason McClellan, a virologist at the University of Texas at Austin, was working on an antiviral drug program, but saw cancellations of pandemic research follow that promise.
Dr. McClellan, whose previous research was based on the creation of the 2020 Covid vaccine, said this week’s cuts made him wonder whether he could continue to study the pandemic in the United States.
“We’re starting to have conversations and plan to gather more information,” he said, noting the possibility of moving abroad.
“My lab is a structural virology lab focused on structural-based vaccine design,” he added. “If the focus is on chronic diseases, it doesn’t leave us much of a funding.”
Source: www.nytimes.com
