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Which specific NIH cancer research grants saw funding cuts or cancellations between 2017 and 2020?
Executive summary
Available reporting does not provide a single, complete list of every individual NIH cancer research grant cut or canceled between 2017 and 2020; most sources in the provided set instead document broader proposed budget reductions in 2017 and large-scale grant terminations and funding realignments in 2024–2025 (not 2017–2020) [1] [2] [3]. Specific, named NIH cancer grants that were cut in the 2017–2020 window are not enumerated in the current collection of sources; the sources that do list terminated grants refer to later years and to aggregate counts rather than a detailed 2017–2020 roster [4] [5] [6].
1. What the sources actually cover: proposals in 2017, broader terminations later
The materials supplied show two different kinds of coverage: (A) the Trump Administration’s 2017 budget proposals that would have sharply reduced NIH and NCI funding — including an asserted near-$1 billion proposed cut to cancer research — and (B) reporting from 2024–2025 documenting mass terminations, cancellation of clinical trials, and administrative moves that cut active grants and trials. The 2017 coverage describes proposed cuts rather than confirmed, line-item cancellations of individual grants [1] [2]. The later reporting documents hundreds of terminated grants and halted trials but centers on 2024–2025 actions, not 2017–2020 specifics [4] [5] [6].
2. 2017 budget proposals: scope but not grant-level detail
News and oversight documents say the first Trump Administration proposed to cut NIH overall by roughly $6 billion (about 18–20% in various accounts) and to reduce cancer research funding by nearly $1 billion in that budgetary proposal [1] [2]. Those accounts describe agency-level proposals and political fights over indirect-cost caps and appropriations language; they do not list which specific individual R01s, P01s, or clinical-trial awards would have been terminated in 2017–2020 as a direct result [1] [2]. NCI budget materials contextualize how appropriations and the Cancer Moonshot dollars affect funding flows, but again do not enumerate grant-by-grant cancellations for 2017–2020 [3].
3. Why you won’t find a neat 2017–2020 list in these sources
The supplied sources either (a) cover proposed federal budgets (which may not translate one-to-one into grant cancellations), or (b) document later administrative actions that terminated hundreds of grants and trials in 2024–2025. For example, investigative and trade reporting in 2025 catalogs mass terminations — e.g., reporting of hundreds of halted clinical trials and at least 172 NCI grants terminated in mid‑2025 analyses — but those are outside the 2017–2020 window the query targets [4] [6] [5]. Therefore, available sources do not mention a concrete list of specific NIH cancer grants cut or cancelled between 2017 and 2020.
4. Broader context that affects grant continuity and could be conflated with cuts
Between 2017 and 2020 NIH and NCI operations were affected by several structural pressures — proposed administration budget reductions, shifting prioritization of programs (including Moonshot-related designations), and institutional budgeting choices like trimming continuing grants in some years — but the evidence supplied frames these as institutional- or program-level adjustments rather than named grant cancellations in that period [1] [3] [7]. Science reporting also describes NCI implementing across-the-board trims (e.g., 3% trimming of continuing grants in a particular year) which can reduce award amounts without formally terminating individual grants [7].
5. Conflicting narratives and political framing to note
Advocates, university officials, and Democratic appropriations sources emphasize that proposed or actual budget changes threaten life‑saving research and can translate into halted projects and lost positions [1] [8]. Federal spokespeople and some HHS statements framed later cuts as mission realignment, rejecting characterizations of politically motivated terminations [6] [5]. When sources disagree, the supplied documents show tension between watchdog/academic reporting of widespread disruption and agency statements framing actions as prioritization or legal compliance [6] [5].
6. If you need a grant‑level list: recommended next steps
Because the provided reporting does not include a named, grant‑level list for 2017–2020, obtain primary records: NIH RePORTER award records and grant termination notices for fiscal years 2017–2020, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosures, or congressional committee exhibits. The sources here instead point you toward agency budget pages and later investigative reporting that document aggregate impacts and later mass terminations [3] [4] [6].
Limitations: This analysis uses only the supplied sources and therefore cannot confirm or deny the existence of named, individual grants cut in 2017–2020 beyond what those sources state; available sources do not mention a specific itemized list of NIH cancer grants canceled in 2017–2020 [1] [3] [4].