Disruption of HIV research at NIH: Fact Check, Part 7
Bhattacharya tries to take credit for HIV advances while his policies undermine the field
“I mean, just, I think that the idea of getting rid of HIV in this country, that President Trump actually articulated in 2019.”
– Jay Bhattacharya, attempting to attribute progress in HIV research to President Trump while administration policies undermine the field
Welcome to Part 7 of our Fact Check Series on NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, brought to you by current and recent NIH staff (*in our personal capacities*). This series highlights specific areas during Bhattacharya’s March 17th House Appropriations Hearing where he spoke deceptively to Congress about the state of NIH research. Today, we address how Bhattacharya emphasized his commitment to HIV research when in reality his actions as Director have actively undermined the field. He also implied credit to the Trump administration for recent HIV advances, despite the administration having no involvement in the discovery that he highlighted.
What Bhattacharya said
Opening remarks:
“Over the past year, the NIH has capitalized on past investments and discoveries leading to concrete advances for human health... In 2019, President Trump announced the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, where he predicted that we could essentially eliminate HIV from this country by 2030.... what I found over the last year or two is that decades of HIV investments and basic sciences laid the groundwork for developing Lenacapavir, a long acting antiretroviral agent, a new one. A single injection of Lenacapavir, it lasts six to 12 months and offers near total protection against getting HIV.... Last year, 40,000 people got HIV. By 2030, that number should be zero. ... and that’s something I’m working on across HHS to make that a reality.“
In response to Representative Pocan:
“I think first, at the NIH, I’ve been focused on the US because I think just 40,000 people had got HIV last year.”
In response to Representative Dean noting that HIV is not isolated to any single continent:
“I don’t know if that’s true actually. I mean, just I think that the idea of getting rid of HIV in this country, that President Trump actually articulated in 2019.”
What actually happened
Lenecapavir, a novel drug originating from NIH-funded research, has made a substantial impact. The journal, Science, deemed it the “Breakthrough of the Year!” But this breakthrough did not occur over the past year, as Bhattacharya implies. Rather, Gilead Sciences announced the success of the PURPOSE I trial for Lenacapavir in June of 2024. Bhattacharya also implies that Lenacapavir resulted from Trump’s Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, but this is false. The EHE initiative focused on implementing programs to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and outbreak response. The $11.3 million dollars initially given to NIH as part of the program was used for research awards “to collaborate with community partners to develop locally relevant plans for diagnosing, treating and preventing HIV in areas with high rates of new HIV cases.” While this work is certainly worthwhile, it had nothing to do with Lenacapavir development. Adding to the irony, the page announcing the launch of the EHE program has been removed from the NIH website as part of the Trump-Bhattacharya purge of DEI-related content and can only be accessed from the web archive. Bhattacharya’s emphasis of the EHE program is also highly ironic, given that the second Trump administration effectively gutted the program. HHS staff charged with implementing the EHE were subject to the administration’s unlawful reductions in force, including nearly half of the staff at CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention and all staff within the HHS Office of Infectious Disease Policy (OIDP).
As for Bhattacharya’s claim about eliminating new cases of HIV in the US by 2030, the eradication of HIV in the US alone is likely impossible, given that viral agents do not respect political borders. The George W Bush Institute acknowledges the need for global collaboration to eradicate HIV in the US. Thus relying on “America first” or US-only approaches are destined to fail. Further, HIV research has been among the hardest hit research fields by NIH study terminations and delays, accounting for nearly a third of early grant terminations. Because HIV disproportionately affects racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority communities, as well as communities across the globe, the field was deeply affected by the administration’s partisan political attacks on “DEI,” “gender ideology” and foreign collaboration. HIV vaccine development research was also harmed by the administration’s partisan attacks on mRNA technology and vaccines in general. By June 13, 2025, Bhattacharya’s NIH had terminated 167 HIV research grants totaling more than $400 million. More than 50 terminated clinical trials at NIH were addressing HIV. Under Bhattacharya, NIH also elected not to renew its Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD) after the current grant cycle ending June 2026. While a revamped program that shifts focus away from vaccines and toward immune-based therapies has been proposed, NIH leadership has delayed the Notice of Funding Opportunity from advancing, such that a gap in program funding is all but certain. The threat of the program’s dissolution and the continued delays the revamped version have introduced uncertainty that has interrupted ongoing science. Congressionally mandated HIV research centers programs focused on HIV scientific leadership, clinical trials, statistical analysis and data management, and laboratory technology are more than a year behind schedule. Finally, Under Bhattacharya’s leadership, NIH has also delayed recompetition of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’s four HIV clinical trial networks such that they also face a gap in funding and may be forced to terminate clinical trials early.
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About this Blog Series
Through this blog series, recent and current NIH staff (in our personal capacities) are fighting for scientific integrity at the NIH, so science can continue to yield future treatments for our fellow Americans. In these blogs, we are highlighting when Bhattacharya flagrantly mischaracterized, obfuscated, or just plain lied about the state of NIH under oath to members of Congress during the March 17 House Appropriations Committee hearing.
In case you missed it, we recently covered NIH’s ability to spend 2026 funds, the harmful consequences of the rapid transition to multiyear funding, how discriminatory censorship of NIH grants is excluding many Americans from the benefits of science, political interference at the NIH, and challenges facing the next generation of scientists.