As Trump proposes NIH cuts, a top Merck executive sees fragility in a ‘super-highway for biomedicine’
R&D chief and other biopharma leaders stop short of criticizing the administration
CHICAGO — Amid 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 “an incredible super-highway for biomedicine,” and that it’s “a fragile thing.”
The comments by Dean Li, Merck’s 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 deep budget cuts to the NIH.