Dartmouth Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Manchester, N.H., has yet to receive funding from the government agency, despite being told the center was approved for the award in July, according to a March 13 report from MedPage Today.
The center, which has held the NCI's comprehensive cancer center designation for almost 50 years, has not received funding since Dec. 1, the report said.
Dartmouth Cancer Center Director Steven Leach, MD, told MedPage Today that while funding delays have occurred before, they have never lasted this long. He also said he knew of three other cancer centers in similar situations.
The National Institutes of Health recently began reconvening study sections group meetings, where expert scientists review research grant applications. The agency has not yet reconvened the advisory councils that determine final funding allocation, the report said.
A federal judge in Massachusetts recently blocked a proposed NIH policy that would cap reimbursements for indirect research costs at 15%.
Amid other ongoing federal funding cuts, Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Chan Medical School and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have experienced operational disruptions including lay-offs and rescinded applications.
Read the full MedPage Today report here.