Johns Hopkins University is joining twelve other academic research institutions in suing the National Institutes of Health, as the Trump administration takes actions to limit the amount of money the federal government will give to universities for indirect costs for medical research projects.
JHU is joining the Association of American Universities, Brown University, MIT and other top research schools in challenging the White House’s attempt to cap indirect cost reimbursement from NIH at 15%.
Indirect costs are often negotiated with grants and average at about 27%, according to NIH data. However, schools with high research capabilities or especially important projects often negotiate higher rates. For 2024, JHU’s indirect cost rate was at about 64%.
The indirect costs go to things like facilities, salaries and security.
Research reimbursements are not unusual for the government. The Defense Department reimburses military contractors for their independent research and development project overhead.
JHU president Ron Daniels and Dean of Medical Faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine Thomas DeWeese wrote in a message to the community that about 600 JHU medical trials would be impacted if indirect cost funding were slashed.
“This includes open clinical trials in cancer, pediatrics and children’s health, heart and vascular studies, and the aging brain, among many others. The NIH funding cut endangers these trials and many more like them into the future,” they wrote. “At Johns Hopkins we have long relied on and planned for the future based on that federal funding commitment, as well as our faculty members' exceptional success in the highly competitive and rigorous NIH peer review process.”
On Monday, District Judge Angel Kelley halted the NIH cuts in 22 states, including Maryland, until Feb. 21 until the court could hear more arguments from the Trump Administration and the states.
Some states could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding if the policy goes through.
JHU’s lawsuit claims that the Trump administration is violating administrative procedure and therefore illegally making arbitrary cuts to funding.
