A group of more than 90 scientific and medical stakeholder organizations, including AIBS, have called on President Joe Biden to withdraw a January 13, 2021 proposed rule on extramural research involving human fetal tissue (HFT), which would impede biomedical research that could lead to new treatments for diseases such as COVID-19.
If the proposed rule is finalized, it could delay scientific advances, vaccines, and anti-viral therapies that otherwise would have been developed under the longstanding rules enabling HFT research,” the groups wrote. “The proposed prohibition on the use of federal funds for the procurement of HFT for research would increase the institutional cost of research using HFT at a time when research institutions are strained for resources due to the ongoing pandemic. The procurement of biospecimens and other research materials is essential for the conduct of research and should be a permissible use of federal research funding.”
The groups also reiterated their January 7 request to Biden to revoke the other 2019 policy changes for HFT research.