Nationwide Preliminary Injunction Halts NIH Indirect Cost Rate Change Notice
Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on March 12, 2025, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction halting the implementation, application or enforcement of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) indirect cost rate cut. The nationwide preliminary injunction follows a temporary restraining order issued by Judge Kelley on Feb. 10, 2025.
The NIH issued Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates (Rate Change Notice) on Feb. 7, 2025, reducing and capping previously negotiated indirect cost rates on existing and future grant awards for biomedical research, set to take effect Feb. 10, 2025. This Rate Change Notice would impact thousands of existing grants across the 50 states.
Per Judge Kelley's Memorandum and Order on Motion for Preliminary Injunction, "the imminent risk of halting life-saving clinical trials, disrupting the development of innovative medical research and treatment, and shuttering of research facilities, without regard for current patient care, warranted the issuance of a nationwide temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo, until the matter could be fully addressed before the Court." Judge Kelley granted the nationwide preliminary injunction – "enjoining [NIH, et al.] from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce" the Rate Change Notice – following a full briefing and oral argument by the parties, as well as review of accepted amicus briefs.
Read more about the Rate Change Notice and ensuing litigation.
Holland & Knight attorneys familiar with the congressional and political landscape surrounding this issue will continue to monitor these developments, including ongoing legal challenges.
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