Threats to infectious diseases research leave our country at significant risk

IDSA and HIVMA are concerned by a notice released Aug. 28 by the National Institutes of Health announcing a proposed overhaul of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ clinical research program with few details and a brief comment period. Changes of the magnitude suggested deserve a lengthier and meaningful opportunity for input from researchers, clinicians, community partners and other stakeholders including Congress.  

The proposed restructuring comes after many months of delays in NIH issuing renewal notices for NIAID’s clinical trial networks and Centers for AIDS Research, whose discoveries helped establish the United States as a leader in biomedical research worldwide. The renewal notices for the ID networks were finally released this week, but ongoing delays in the renewals for the pioneering CFARs and HIV clinical trial networks are alarming.      

Destabilizing NIAID’s HIV research infrastructure will harm study participants and further compromise our country’s infectious diseases response at a time when ID workforce shortages are worsening and front-line public health systems are eroding due to funding cuts and staffing shortages. 

The expertise and stability of NIAID’s HIV research networks and centers have fueled discoveries that have saved millions of lives by preventing and treating HIV and other infectious diseases, including viral hepatitis and tuberculosis. These advances include: 

Developing HIV antiretrovirals that suppress the deadly virus to undetectable levels and are 99% effective at preventing HIV acquisition   

Laying the groundwork for a cure for hepatitis C  

Identifying shorter treatment regimens for TB — the deadliest infectious disease worldwide  

We call on NIH to prioritize the health and biosecurity of Americans by immediately releasing the HIV clinical research networks and centers notices of funding opportunities, providing extensions where needed to protect study participants and ensure research in clinical trials underway is not lost. We also urge Congress to conduct the oversight necessary to prevent the dismantling of decades of investments in our nation’s biomedical research infrastructure.  
 

— Ronald G. Nahass, MD, MHCM, FIDSA — President, IDSA 
 
— Anna K. Person, MD, FIDSA — Chair, HIVMA   
 
About IDSA and HIVMA  
The Infectious Diseases Society of America is a global community of 13,000 clinicians, scientists and public health experts working together to solve humanity’s smallest and greatest challenges, from tiny microbes to global outbreaks. Rooted in science, committed to health equity and driven by curiosity, our compassionate and knowledgeable members safeguard the health of individuals, our communities and the world by advancing the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. Within IDSA, the HIV Medicine Association is a community of health care professionals who advance a comprehensive and humane response to the HIV pandemic, informed by science and social justice. Visit idsociety.org and hivma.org to learn more.