Insecurity, chaos for Canadian researchers because the confusion is ruled by Trump’s administration medical financial
Canadian scientists say that the uncertainty about the apparent break of US President Donald Trump about Federal Health Consumption could stop the study of new drugs, vaccines and treatment for cancer, dementia and more – including in Laborators in Canada.
USA National Health Institutes (Nih) enables some of the best scientists around the world. Most From the US budget in the amount of $ 47 billion last year, a research was funded by an agency to “improve health, prolong life, reduce illness and disability.” This includes the work done by Canadian researchers, who have received over $ 40 million Now financing last year.
There is a confusion now. January 21st Trump’s administration imposed a Freezing communication to February 1 for federal health officers. In the nih, this meant key meetings that decide what scientific research funded canceled, without a word about when it would be moved.
This week, Websites On support and financing, the researchers’ supervisory board announced indefinite changes that will affect “scholarships for research, scholarships and scholarships for training” submitted on 25 January.
Adding chaos: In a separate move, the administration also frozen hundreds of billions of federal scholarships, loans and help on Monday before turning the course on Wednesday.
All this leaves many scientists – including those in Canada – insecure of the future of their work.
Canadian Steffanie Strathdee moved to the United States in 1998 and received financing for her exploration of HIV prevention. Waiting for a new support for $ 12 million, and a meeting that is scheduled for a NIH next week to decide on it.
“When I opened my computer and saw that the dollars were frozen, I was stunned,” Strathdee said.
Strathdee is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of California. The study involves monitoring large groups of people who use HIV -Ai hepatitis C. Over time, some of her work includes studies in Canada with people using medicines for information about prevention and treatment in the US, Canada and beyond.
Strathdee said that most of the researchers who know have already influenced temporary freezing at meetings, travel, communication and employment in NIH.
“In the best scenario, we are facing a significant delay of financing, which means that the impact on the life of my staff and my students, both Canada and the US.”
Future consequences?
Researchers working at Canadian universities are also concerned about lack of clarity.
Nathan Sorang Professor is James McGill at the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal, where she studies how the brain changes as we become older. He funded his research of loneliness, brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
Research such as Spong, if not funded, could delay the development of future treatments.
“The consequences of this are just real human suffering,” Spong said. “There are several diseases and injuries that are not treated well at the moment. Such agents are absent, these people will only suffer.”
The financing of NIH has contributed to the development of all, except two out of 356 medicines approved by the US Food and Medication Administration between 2010 and 2019, Article 2023 Jama Health Forum suggests.
Those who worked at the World Health Organization expected the worst – but the executive order of US President Donald Trump was still stuck. Dr. Prabhat JHA, a professor of global health from the University of Toronto, describes the financial impact of the US by leaving WHO and what it means for Canada and other countries contributing to the organization.
Spong said that the main concern in the scientific community refers to the sections of Nih Studio, panels under the guidance of experts who rank funding proposals.
“She won’t feel right now,” Spong said. “It will take a few years for a kind of cumulative influence, but on all sides, what we will see is fewer treatments, fewer innovations in medicine and perseverance of bad health.”
The scientific community feels cold
Exception, according to to the memorandum He first reported a stat on Monday, a website for health care and medical news in the US, enables people who are enrolled in clinical trials of potential drugs to travel to the position of study.
But the constant confusion about the influence on the wider financing of research is continuing.
“It’s really freezing science,” and the cold is felt in the scientific community, said Jim Woodgett, a cancer researcher at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Toront’s Sinai Health and Terry Fox Research Institute.
“We don’t know much about the details, and they seem to change every second,” he said. “I think that uncertainty actually adds to the crisis.”
Woodgett notes the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the main means of medical research in this country, has a budget of about $ 1.4 billion. Since 2016, the Government of Canada has invested $ 22 billion at the initiative for science and research. For comparison, it only consumes more than twice as much as every year – over $ 47 billion or $ 67 billion in Canadian dollars.
Strathdee, a HIV scientist, said uncertainty with American funding opens the door to Canada to increase the financing of research and attract top American scientists – or returned the Canadians home.
“This is an opportunity for not a brain drain, but a brain gain,” Stritdee said. “I’m just one of many people who want to get home and have never given up on my collaboration in Canada.”
A spokesman for the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry told CBC News to watch the Government carefully to watch developments about science and research in the United States.
Strathdee, who is currently traveling between San Diego and Toronto, protects her bets.
“If things are still eroded in the United States and it is a deliberate erosion of public health infrastructure, then I will review my decision on where I will put the rest of my time in my career.”
