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Spokane health leaders warn Eastern Washington to face headwinds from medical research cuts
Jun. 14—Many Spokane health care leaders met Thursday to speak out against proposed federal medical research cuts that could risk millions of dollars and thousands of jobs in Eastern Washington.
The Trump administration has proposed a 40% cut at the National Institutes of Health. If enacted, the billions of dollars of cuts could have profound impacts on medical research across the nation and in Spokane.
The Life Sciences Washington roundtable in Spokane brought together community leaders from Spokane's private medical research industry, medical schools and hospitals to paint a dire picture if Congress approves Trump's proposed cuts.
"Other countries have spent three decades trying to recreate what America has created when it comes to our research enterprise, and they haven't been able to do it," Life Sciences Washington President Marc Cummings said. "A 40 to 50% cut means we lose the whole pipeline for the future."
University of Washington School of Medicine Vice Dean Suzanne Allen said the school system receives the most NIH funds out of any public medical school behind Harvard. According to Allen, the university has been awarded $1.2 billion in NIH research funding.
Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, more than 30 NIH grants to the University of Washington have not been renewed or payment has been delayed. By the end of the month, Allen expects that number of grants to double. The university has laid off dozens of researchers and expects many more jobs will be lost in the coming months, including those in Spokane.
The school also is accepting 30% fewer postdoctoral students this upcoming school year because it cannot fund these students' research. Without that training, there may not be enough qualified researchers if the funding is ever returned.
"It's easy to tear something apart right now, and it's going to take us years to get back," Allen said.
Though the cuts are currently halted by federal courts, the Trump administration also has tried to limit NIH grants' indirect costs to 15%.
When researchers receive a federal grant, an additional amount is set aside for the university for building maintenance, equipment and other administrative costs. These funds cover costs incurred because of the research but do not directly relate to the research itself.
Previously, each university negotiated with the federal government over the indirect reimbursement rate.
The 15% cap would be much lower than the rates most universities have negotiated.
Washington State University estimates this change could cost $20 million a year, while UW estimate its losses could exceed $90 million annually.
WSU Spokane Chancellor Daryll DeWald said cuts could affect more than 2,000 university employees that rely on NIH funding.
"It is affecting us in terms of number of students that we're training in the sciences and postdocs. It is job loss, but it's also affecting the pipeline," DeWald said.
That lost funding cannot be replaced by the private sector, said Marcelo Morales, founder of A4 Ventures, a health care investment firm.
Research is typically funded by the government early in the process, and private companies only invest in the few years before the research can be Federal Drug Administration- approved and commercialized.
"Anything in the life sciences takes 15 years before you get going. It is just impractical for private capital. It's not going to happen," Morales said.
One program specifically on the chopping block is NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant.
These grants fund private companies to conduct these early stages of research that may not turn out to be profitable. Without that, private investors may see funding research as too risky an investment.
"The impact of reductions in SBIR to a community like ours is particularly acute because we're not like Boston. We're not like San Francisco. We don't have massive amounts of risk capital, risk money that's waiting to be put back. We need this money," Morales said.
The cuts across medical research also have downstream effects on other areas of the health care system.
Jubilant HollisterStier is a Spokane-based manufacturer of sterile medical products. CEO Chris Preti fears cuts to medical research now could affect his company years down the line.
"We need every other aspect in that value chain to be able to actually deliver so we can do our work," Preti said.
And hospital executives said the fewer funding to Spokane's medical schools, the harder it will be to staff their hospitals.
"Providence has about 136 residents who are post-medical school training in our hospitals, training in our rural centers and who are going to be the physicians of the future," Inland Northwest Washington Providence CEO Susan Stacey said. "It is the dominoes of fewer folks coming out of medical school, so funding is cut for residencies. So then there is not a local place to do their residency — so our next generation doesn't stay in Spokane. It's all very intertwined."
