MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison stands to lose $65 million under a new federal effort to cut down on medical research costs, according to court documents filed Monday.
Wisconsin and 21 other states are suing the Trump administration to block a directive issued Friday by the National Institutes of Health that would cap grant funding for overhead costs of research at 15%.
In a statement issued Saturday, UW-Madison officials said the changes “will significantly disrupt vital research activity and delay lifesaving discoveries.”
Currently, around 26% of NIH research funding towards facilities and administrative costs related to research. UW-Madison, one of the top research institutions in the country, has an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services allowing it to spend 55.5% of its grant funds on those overhead costs.
UW-Madison spent more than $1.7 billion on research and development in 2023, the latest year for which data is available. $465 million of that came from NIH. Some of the university’s largest medical research programs aim to treat Alzheimer’s disease and discover cures to cancer.
Watch: UW-Madison could lose tens of millions under new federal research cuts
University officials say NIH grants are UW-Madison’s single largest source of federal funding.
Nationally, NIH spent more than $35 billion on research grants in the 2023 fiscal year. UW-Madison was Wisconsin’s largest recipient by far, but other institutions including UW-Milwaukee, the Medical Colleges of Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic and Marquette University receive millions from the agency.
“These reductions will have an inevitable impact on student opportunities to engage in research activities, from undergraduates to Ph.D. and medical students,” UW-Madison officials wrote in their statement. “Medical innovation will be slowed, delaying the creation of new treatments, new technologies, and new health workers.”
In its directive, NIH argues the lower indirect cost rate will put it on par with what private grantmaking institutions pay.
“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” the directive reads. “It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.”
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who announced Monday that Wisconsin was part of the multi-state lawsuit to block the NIH directive, called it “unconscionable.”
“The Trump Administration’s reckless federal funding cuts will be devastating for Wisconsin and a setback for millions of people who hope and pray every day for a cure or treatments that might save their life or the life of someone they love,” Evers said in a statement.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
