Filling Gaps From Potential NIH Budget Cut “Almost Impossible”
Gaps in funding caused by the potential $5 billion budget cut to the National Institutes of Health would be “almost impossible” to fill, according to Aaron J. Kowalski, Ph.D., CEO of Breakthrough T1D.
Although a judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order cutting funds for indirect research costs, researchers have concerns about the long-term impact of this order.
The National Institutes of Health recently announced that indirect costs would be capped at about 15% across all NIH grants for indirect costs in lieu of a separately negotiated rate for indirect costs.
Aaron J. Kowalski, Ph.D., CEO of Breakthrough T1D, spoke with Managed Healthcare Executive, saying the move will disrupt critical medical advances, impacting the NIH’s Special Diabetes program and type 1 diabetes research.
“We’re talking about $5 billion - that is a massive, massive blow,” Kowalski said. “I can tell you that were in very close communication with other medical research organizations and foundations to really make sure that the community locks arms and medical research continues with full force.”
The NIH Special Diabetes Program is a special funding program for research on the prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes that began in 1998. This program has enabled the creation of several collaborative research programs for type 1 diabetes. These include:
- Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium,
- Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry,
- Diabetes Research in Children Network,
- Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network
- Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications
- Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes
- Search for Diabetes in Youth
- The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young
- Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium
- Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases administers the Special Diabetes program.
Kowalski said this won’t just impact diabetes research but research in many areas as well, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Digital Twin Technology Enhances Blood Sugar Control in Type 1 Diabetes
June 11th 2025A cloud-based digital twin simulation, coupled with automated insulin delivery, allows patients with diabetes to experiment with their own data on glycemic control in a safe simulation environment before adjusting their system.
Read More
Adult-Onset Type 1 Diabetes Increases Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
June 2nd 2025The risk of major cardiac events was 50% higher in adult-onset type 1 diabetes than in population controls, and the risk of death from diabetic coma or ketoacidosis was seven times as high as those with type 2 diabetes.
Read More
World’s First Immunotherapy Trial for Type 1 Diabetes Is Underway in Australia
May 23rd 2025Led by the University of Queensland’s research facility, Frazer Institute, the trial examining the drug ASITI-201 is the first of its kind in the world and has already dosed its first five participants.
Read More
