AG Platkin Secures Settlement Agreement Preventing Further Delays In Medical And Public Health Research

Following Multistate Lawsuit, HHS Agrees to Cease Delays in Reviewing NIH Grant Applications

FROM A.G. PLATKIN'S OFFICE —Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Friday that he has secured a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) providing that HHS will resume the review process for critical medical and public health research grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that have been unlawfully delayed by the Trump Administration. The agreement resolves claims made in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Platkin and a coalition of 16 attorneys general in April, challenging the Administration’s unreasonable and intentional delays in reviewing NIH grant applications.

“This news could not be more welcome, coming in the midst of a cold snap with significant levels of flu and other illnesses,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This is a victory for public health, for our residents, and for our research universities, which were harmed by these unnecessary and unlawful funding delays.”

NIH grant applications typically undergo several rounds of rigorous review by subject-matter experts and agency officials who assess each proposal’s scientific merit in light of funding availability and agency priorities. Earlier this year, the Administration took the unprecedented step of cancelling upcoming meetings for the agency’s review panels and delaying the scheduling of future meetings. The Administration also indefinitely withheld issuing final decisions on applications that had already received approval from the relevant review panels, leaving the plaintiff States awaiting decisions on billions of dollars in requested research funding.

The Administration’s delays and terminations prevented public research institutions from moving forward with critical scientific and medical research. It also harmed public health efforts in New Jersey, which is currently experiencing a hard-hitting wave of influenza, COVID-19, and RSV.

This settlement agreement commits HHS to resuming the usual process for considering NIH grant applications on a prompt, agreed-upon timeline. The agreement complements the coalition’s victory in an earlier phase of the lawsuit, in which the plaintiff States challenged unlawful directives that targeted NIH projects based on their perceived connection to various topics disfavored by the Trump Administration. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island found for the plaintiff States and set aside the unlawful directives; a hearing on the federal government’s appeal of that decision is scheduled for January 6, 2026. The current settlement agreement limits NIH from applying the unlawful directives while reviewing applications for new grants.

Joining Attorney General Platkin in reaching this settlement are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.