Trump Administration Bars WHO Talks, Pulls $600M, Faces Drug Price Report

The Trump administration has barred senior U.S. health researchers from World Health Organization talks, moved to reclaim about $600 million in public health funding from four states, and faced a Senate report showing drug prices rising despite pricing deals.

Officials from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have been barred from communicating with the World Health Organization (WHO). The prohibition has been in place since the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship last month. Communication limits were relaxed slightly in the past week as talks around an African Ebola outbreak increased. NIAID officials can now attend virtual WHO meetings only in small groups and only in a "listening capacity," according to a May 18 email from a senior NIAID official. If needed, follow-ups to meetings would be handled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees NIAID. "We'll be operating in the same manner for Ebola as we have been doing for Hantavirus, assembling a small group of experts — no more than three — to participate," the email said. "Should we have legitimate research questions or countermeasure testing ideas, we can bring those up through the proper chain of command."

The directive follows Trump administration moves to step back from global health forums, including withdrawal in January from WHO. The moves are an outgrowth of Republican frustration with WHO's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions dovetail with what some are calling an unprecedented health leadership vacuum: the surgeon general's job is vacant, the NIAID's acting director recently quit, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration lost its commissioner this month, and multiple senior officials have left the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last week, WHO's assessment level of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo was upgraded from "high" to "very high." No cases have yet been seen in the United States, though one American aid worker who contracted the illness in Africa is being treated in Germany. His family is also in quarantine, and another American is being monitored. The CDC has said it is working "around the clock" with partners to address the Ebola outbreak. The international risk remains low, according to WHO.

The Trump administration also plans to take back about $600 million in public health funding from four Democrat-led states — California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota — saying the grants no longer match health priorities. The money was awarded through the CDC and supported state health departments and nonprofit groups. A list of the planned cuts was shared with congressional committees earlier this week; some of the funding will be canceled this week, with additional cuts rolling out over the coming weeks. "These grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities," a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. The grants were used for a wide range of public health work, including hiring staff, updating data systems, responding to disease outbreaks and running programs for specific communities. About two dozen grants focused on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Nearly two-thirds of the funding being pulled back is unspent money allocated to state and local health departments in California.

Much of the cuts affect partner organizations as well. Among those listed:

• $7.2 million from the American Medical Association in Illinois, which supports gender transitions for kids
• $5.2 million from Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago for HIV prevention work among Black women
• $876,000 from the University of California, San Francisco for a project focused on reducing social isolation among older LGBTQ adults
• $371,000 from the Colorado Health Network for outreach to Latino and African American men who have sex with men

In September, the CDC updated its website to outline its new priorities, including stepping away from programs focused on diseases that mostly affect specific populations. The agency said that approach "has not translated into measurable improved health for minority populations, and in many cases has undermined core American values." Last month, HHS also briefly paused $5 billion in public health infrastructure grants nationwide to review whether they aligned with the administration's goals; that pause was lifted within 24 hours. The CDC's former chief medical officer, who resigned in August, said the decision is troubling, especially as the country faces active health threats, and that it "leaves communities less prepared."

A new U.S. Senate report, released by Sen. Bernie Sanders, found that drug companies involved in price deals with President Donald Trump have continued to raise prices on hundreds of medications. On average, new drugs carried a price tag of about $353,000 a year. The report looked at drugs used to treat serious conditions like cancer, multiple sclerosis and other rare diseases. Several well-known medications saw price increases. Merck's cancer drug Keytruda rose 6% to about $210,000 a year; the same drug costs about $37,900 in Japan and $88,100 in France. Novartis' multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta increased by nearly $10,500 to about $141,000 a year; in Germany it costs about $17,300, and in Canada about $23,500. Another cancer drug, Opdivo from Bristol Myers Squibb, rose 4% to about $260,000 annually, which is more than double the price in countries like France and the United Kingdom.

The report also pointed out newer treatments with extremely high prices. Johnson & Johnson's Inlexzo launched at a price of about $1 million, while AbbVie's Emrelis costs around $719,000. AstraZeneca's Datroway is priced near $419,000. Gene therapies could be even more expensive: Novartis' Itvisma has a list price of about $2.59 million, and its treatment Zolgensma rose to more than $2.5 million for a single dose. The findings pose questions about the impact of the administration's "most favored nation" pricing approach, which aims to bring U.S. drug prices closer to those in other wealthy countries with lower costs. A White House spokesperson pushed back, saying the report focuses on "prescription drug list prices, which are meaningless because they do not reflect the actual purchase prices that patients pay at the pharmacy counter." Experts note, though, that higher list prices can lead to higher costs for insurers and, in some cases, patients. The report also found that drugmakers' profits rose sharply last year, reaching $177 billion, up from $107 billion in 2024.