Canadian scientists say that the obvious break from US President Donald Trump could bring about research into new drugs, vaccines and treatments for cancer, dementia and much more -also in laboratories in Canada in relation to the health expenditure of the US President .
The USA National health institutes (Nih) makes some of the best scientists in the world. The most Last year, research that the agency considered, “improving health, extending life, reducing illness and disability was reduced by its 47-billion dollar budget last year.” This includes the work of Canadian researchers who have been preserved Over $ 40 million Us of funding last year.
Now there is confusion. On January 21, the Trump administration imposed a communication freeze for federal health officials until February 1. At the NIH this meant important meetings that decide which scientific research was to be financed without being thought about when they would be postponed.
This week, A Nih website In the event of grants and financial resources, a dashboard announced for researchers that have not been specified for “research project grants, scholarships and training scholars”, which were submitted on or after January 25th.
Added to this is the chaos: In a separate step, the administration on Monday also hundreds of billions of dollars of federal grants, loans and help before reversing the course on Wednesday.
All of this does not allow many scientists – including those in Canada – to the future of their work.
The Canadian Steffanie Strathe moved to the USA in 1998 and received NIH financing for its HIV prevention research. She is waiting for the submission of a new scholarship for $ 12 million, and a meeting that is planned with the NIH next week to assess that it is in the air.
“When I opened my computer and saw that Nih dollar were frozen, I was stunned,” said Strathe.
Strathe is a professor at the San Diego School of Medicine at the University of California. Research is about following large groups of people who use medication over time to examine HIV and hepatitis C. Some of her work includes studies in Canada with people who use medication to inform prevention and treatment in the USA, Canada and beyond.
Strathe said that most of the researchers they know were already affected by the temporary freezing in meetings, travel, communication and attitude at the NIH.
“In the best scenario, we confront a significant financing delay, and this means that my employees and my students’ living documents are affected in both Canada and in the United States.”
Future consequences?
Researchers who work at Canadian universities are also concerned about the lack of clarity.
Nathan Spreng is the James McGill professor in the department for neurology and neurosurgery at MCGill University in Montreal, where he examines how the brain changes when we get older. The NIH has financed its research on loneliness, brain age and Alzheimer’s disease.
Research such as explosives could delay the development of future treatments if they are underfunded.
“The consequences of this are just a real human suffering,” said Spreng. “There are a number of diseases and injuries that are currently not treated well. Without this type of funds, these people will continue to suffer.”
The NIH financing contributed to the development of all up to two out of 356 medication that was approved between 2010 and 2019 by the US Food and Drug Administration Jama Health Forum suggests.
Those who worked at the World Health Organization had expected the worst – but the executive contract of US President Donald Trump was still stuck. Dr. Prabhat JHA, Professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto, outlines the financial effects of the United States that leave the WHO and what it means for Canada and other countries that contribute to organization.
Spreng said that the main concern is currently in the scientific community in relation to NIH study sections, panels guided by experts, which refer to the funding for funding.
“It will not be felt immediately,” said Spreng. “It will take a few years for a kind of cumulative impact.
Science community feels cold
An exception to To a memo Only on Monday by Stat, a health and medical news based in the USA, reports that it enables people who are inscribed in clinical studies with potential medication to travel to the examination locations.
However, the continued confusion on the effects on the broader NIH research financing continues.
“It is really freezing in science”, and the cold will be felt in the entire science community, said Jim Woodget, a cancer researcher at the Lunenfeld-Ta-Taum research institute at Torontos Sinai Health and at the Terry Fox Research Institute.
“We don’t know much about the details and they seem to change every second,” he said. “I think the uncertainty actually contributes to the crisis.”
Woodgett notes that the Canadian institutes for health research, the main sponsor of medical research in this country, have a budget of around 1.4 billion dollars. Since 2016, the Canadian government has invested 22 billion US dollars for science and research initiatives. For comparison, the NIH alone spends more than twice every year -over $ 47 billion in the USA or $ 67 billion in Canadian dollars.
Strathe, the HIV scientist, said the uncertainty in US financing opens the door to increase research financing and to win over -American scientists -or bring Canadians home.
“This is an opportunity not to flatten out, but to win the brain,” said Strathe. “I’m just one of many people who want to come home and have never given up working in Canada.”
A spokesman for the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry told CBC News that the government is closely observing the developments in relation to science and research financing in the USA.
Strathdee, who is currently commuting between San Diego and Toronto, shoots off her bets.
“If things in the United States continue to erode and it is a deliberate erosion of the infrastructure of public health, then I will visit my decision again where I will put the rest of my time in my career.”
