STAT+: As Trump proposes NIH cuts, a top Merck executive sees fragility in a \u2018super-highway for biomedicine\u2019
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CHICAGO \u2014\u00a0Amid ongoing uncertainty around funding for the National Institutes of Health, and what it could mean for U.S. innovation, a top Merck executive stressed that the agency is \u201can incredible super-highway for biomedicine,\u201d and that it\u2019s \u201ca fragile thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments by Dean Li, Merck\u2019s head of research and development, were made during a STAT event late Friday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and came as the Trump administration proposed<\/a> deep budget cuts to the NIH.<\/p>\n Li stopped short of criticizing the administration\u2019s effort to shrink the NIH and suggested it\u2019s too soon to draw conclusions. \u201cI\u2019m hopeful that the noise will settle down, and the true value, which is not hard to see, will be seen,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if it isn\u2019t, it can cause a problem, and you will have a shift of basic research.\u201d<\/p>\n Continue to STAT+ to read the full story\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n