Solve M.E.released the following statement in response to news reports that the administration is drafting an executive order to establish an external committee to review the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awards:
“For the millions of Americans living with ME/CFS, Long Covid, and other complex chronic diseases, NIH-funded research is the bridge between indefinite suffering and hope for treatments. That research delivers because it is judged on scientific merit by experts in the field, the same process behind nearly every treatment and breakthrough patients count on today. Giving political appointees the power to override expert scientific review risks shifting NIH funding decisions away from scientific merit and adding new barriers and delays at a moment when patients can least afford them. We appreciate the administration’s stated commitment to spend every NIH dollar, and we urge that those dollars keep flowing to the strongest science, chosen on the merits and free of new political hurdles. Patients have already waited long enough.” — Jessica Maya, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Programs, Solve M.E.
Want to get involved? Use our toolkit to contact your Members of Congress and tell them to protect merit-based science at the NIH.