The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to significantly revise a proposed rule that would allow federal agencies to terminate grants at any time based on shifting agency priorities, and subject grant approvals to a pre-issuance review by political appointees. The new policy also prohibits using federal grant funding to cover scientific journal subscriptions and publication fees, seriously disrupting essential scientific conversations that take place in peer-reviewed journals and reducing broad and timely access to research results.
In comments filed July 10, ASCO urged the agency to delay implementation of the rule until at least January 1, 2027, and offered recommendations to protect scientific integrity, preserve the merit-based review process, and maintain research dissemination by striking proposed cost restrictions on independent scientific journals. The Association warned that if the rule is finalized as currently written, it will have a devastating impact on people with cancer and will stall advancements in cancer care by crippling researchers’ ability to continue engaging in critical, life-saving scientific research.
A statement from Association for Clinical Oncology Board Chair Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, follows:
“This transformational rule significantly risks undermining the nation’s successful, merit-based medical research enterprise. Groundbreaking research into the root causes of cancer requires sustained, predictable support over many years. Every stage of the grant lifecycle demands a massive investment of time and resources, and this proposed policy introduces uncertainty that risks stalling the very innovation needed to reduce the global burden of disease.”
“Allowing political appointees to override expert peer reviews and abruptly kill active research grants will also place vulnerable patients in harm’s way if they lose access to life-saving treatments by having their cancer clinical trials canceled mid-stream.”
“Research that is conducted but not shared stays in the dark. By defunding publication in independent scientific journals through these financial shifts and restricting health-care access research, these changes will isolate American biotechnology, cost lives, and surrender our global leadership in medicine. Independent journals and conferences provide the vital framework required to vet and validate research, turning laboratory discoveries into a trustworthy, public-facing reality.”
“We agree that ensuring the responsible use of taxpayer dollars is important, but this proposal does the opposite by introducing profound instability that will compromise our investment, act as a severe deterrent to innovative research, and limit access to results. We strongly urge OMB to revise the rule as written and delay its implementation to safeguard patients and the scientific enterprise against severe disruptions.”
