Rare disease funding imperiled
WORLDVIEW
The State Department wants to stop funding neglected tropical diseases because it doesn't make Americans safer, it said in its budget request for the 2026 fiscal year.
The department has also ended most ongoing projects fighting these diseases as part of the Trump administration's foreign aid review, which aimed to bring it in line with the president's 'America First' policy.
Why it matters: That's going to make it harder and take longer to eliminate these diseases, said Angela Weaver, the vice president for neglected tropical diseases at Helen Keller International, a U.S. nonprofit.
Neglected tropical diseases are a group of diverse conditions caused by viruses, bacteria and other pathogens which can have devastating health, social and economic consequences among impoverished communities in tropical areas, according to the World Health Organization. The group includes lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, a parasitic infection caused by worms that can lead to severe swelling; and trachoma, a bacterial eye infection that can leave people blind if untreated.
'We were on the brink of elimination for some of these diseases, especially in the countries that fall under my portfolio, because they happen to be countries where USAID started investing first: Mali, Burkina Faso,' Weaver said, referring to the U.S. Agency for International Development that the Trump administration has dismantled.
How we got here: USAID funded the fight against five neglected tropical diseases starting in 2006, reaching a budget of up to $115 million in 2024, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health think tank.
That investment delivered results, Weaver said.
'When the U.S. investment started, the entire country of Mali was at risk for blinding trachoma. And two years ago, it was declared by the World Health Organization that it's no longer a public health problem,' she said. 'And this is through successive coups, Covid, all kinds of political instability, insecurity,' Weaver said.
Pharmaceutical companies like MSD and Pfizer have donated drugs to treat some of these diseases.
'It was truly a partnership. What the U.S. brought was just some really much needed implementation money to get drugs from point A to point B, into the mouths of people that need them, in an efficient and safe way,' Weaver said.
The future of continuing to fight these diseases is uncertain, as pharmaceutical companies, philanthropies or other governments don't appear willing to help cover some of the gap the U.S. is leaving.
'We have an opportunity to eliminate some of these diseases that have been around for generations and generations,' Weaver said. 'Taxpayer dollars … have already been invested in this program, and we're kind of throwing that away if we just let these programs go completely,' she said.
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FOLLOW THE MONEY
The prospect of pharmaceutical tariffs is front-of-mind in both Europe and Washington, according to POLITICO reports.
On Capitol Hill, most Republicans on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee recently warned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to be careful with drug tariffs, our Ari Hawkins reported.
The 20 lawmakers, led by Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), told Lutnick it's fine with them to target China but not U.S. allies. 'We urge you to consider whether tariffs on medicines sourced from allies such as Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom could have significant negative effects on American patients,' they wrote.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has asked CEOs across the pond to provide details on their plans for investing in the U.S. in preparation for trade talks.
Some of the biggest U.S. investment announcements from Europe so far have come from the pharmaceutical sector, with Swiss firms Roche and Novartis pledging $50 billion and $23 billion, respectively. France's Sanofi has committed at least $20 billion through 2030.
The backstory: President Donald Trump announced in April he was considering using a national security law to impose pharmaceutical tariffs to encourage more domestic manufacturing.
The United States imported roughly $210 billion worth of pharmaceutical products in 2024, according to data from the Commerce Department.
A federal trade court last week blocked broader tariffs on consumer goods that the administration had used emergency powers to impose, but a federal appeals court stayed the decision while it considers arguments.
What's next? The Trump administration hasn't formally released any details on the size or target of any pharmaceutical tariffs it's weighing, but Trump told reporters last month that the duties could be anywhere from 25 percent up to 200 percent.
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