Research funding decisions do not happen in a vacuum. They can have real—and potentially life-altering—consequences for patients waiting for new treatments.
A new report by CNBC highlights how cuts to federal research funding disrupted efforts to develop an mRNA-based treatment for children with an aggressive form of brain cancer, delaying a clinical trial by more than a year.
The story focuses on John Paul Macri, a young boy diagnosed with a rare brain cancer that has a five-year survival rate of about 2%. As Gerry Smith reports for CNBC:
“John Paul’s parents dug into the research and found at least one promising drug on the horizon: a treatment that uses mRNA, the same technology behind the Covid vaccines, to train a child’s immune system to attack the brain tumor. The scientists developing the treatment were close to starting a clinical trial when the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, began a sweeping review of scientific research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Between February and August of 2025, more than $2 billion in funding was withdrawn or frozen from thousands of federally funded research projects.
“In August 2025, the National Cancer Institute, a branch of NIH, notified the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium that it could no longer reapply for funding … which is a network of academic centers and hospitals that supports clinical trials of new treatments for kids with brain cancer.”
John Paul is now in hospice care, and his family is trying to help him find “small moments of comfort.” His mom, Katie, says federal funding decisions “have very real consequences.”
The story is a powerful reminder of what’s at risk when politics interfere with promising medical research. And it’s not the only time the federal government has made a misguided decision to cut vital mRNA research.
Our research priorities should be guided by the best science and the greatest potential to improve patients’ lives—not politics. That is why the Alliance for mRNA Medicines is urging the Trump administration to withdraw proposed changes to federal grant rules that risk disrupting the American research ecosystem that has fueled decades of biomedical innovation. As AMM wrote to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget:
“The United States’ biomedical research enterprise is a strategic national asset … Federal grant policy should help strengthen this enterprise by supporting scientific merit, transparency, collaboration, and responsible stewardship of public funds. As drafted, the proposed rule would move federal research policy in the opposite direction.”
Our thoughts are with John Paul and his family. And our members will never stop working to develop better therapies for patients.
Media Contact:
Alliance for mRNA Medicines
media@mrnamedicines.org