Federal Funding Cuts Hit Cancer Research Despite Public Support

Although federal funding has long played a crucial role in positioning the US as a global leader in cancer research and innovation, recent and future cuts in this area are threatening to slow progress. However, there is a significant majority of the electorate in favor of funding this research, which may help reverse some of the financial setbacks faced by the field.

“Federal funding is critical in supporting many types of cancer research, [including] clinical research and clinical trials, basic and translational research, population science work, which includes prevention and screening, as well as support for investigators through education, training, and career development,” Primo Nery Lara, Jr, MD, said in an interview with OncLive®. “Publicly funded clinical trials occupy a critical role in the fight against cancer in the US and globally. We are the leaders in developing new approaches to treating cancer through clinical trials, [and] contributions from the American taxpayers [toward] these efforts provide a balanced portfolio for cancer researchers.”

Lara is the director of the University of California (UC) Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as the executive associate dean for cancer programs and a professor of medicine at UC Davis Health in Sacramento.

What are the present gaps in federal funding for cancer research?

Despite the crucial role of federal funding in advancing cancer research and ultimately improving care for patients, there have been major recent cuts to the funds, with more planned for the future. According to a May 2025 US Senate Minority Staff report, the federal government cut approximately $2.7 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding over the first 3 months of 2025, including a 31% decrease in funding for cancer research through March 2025 compared with the same timeframe of the previous year.¹ Moreover, according to a report by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), President Donald Trump’s request for the 2026 fiscal year NCI budget is $4.53 billion, representing a $2.69 billion or 37.3% decrease from the 2025 fiscal year.²

“We are concerned that reducing federal support will primarily [affect] cancer researchers at the beginning of their careers, because instead of remaining in cancer discovery through their academic pursuits, they will look elsewhere because there’s no support for their research,” Lara explained. “The investigators who are developing new drugs, approaches, or targets in cancer cells through their independent research were previously supported through the federal government [and] will also be acutely affected. If they’re not getting the resources to support that line of research, we won’t be able to diversify our approaches in the fight against cancer. We won’t have as many new targets for us to develop drugs against or we will fail to advance a promising new drug through the process because there’s no funding to move it ahead.”

Beyond the backsteps in cancer research funding that have occurred at the federal level, there are also disparities that exist in terms of which cancer types receive the highest levels of funding. Findings from a retrospective analysis of funding from the NIH and Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs conducted by Suneel Kamath, MD, showed that from 2013 to 2022, the cancer types with the largest combined funding were breast ($8.36 billion), lung ($3.83 billion), and prostate ($3.61 billion) cancers.³ Comparatively, uterine ($435 million), cervical ($1.12 billion), and hepatobiliary ($1.13 billion) cancers received the least combined funding. The funding levels were found to be well correlated with incidence levels (Pearson correlation coefficient [PCC], 0.85) but were not well correlated with mortality rates (PCC, 0.36).

“Unfortunately, we found that [although] a number of cancers get excellent funding every year, others that are common and have high mortality rates don’t get much federal funding at all,” Kamath, an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said in an interview with OncLive. “Many of the gastrointestinal tract cancers received very few dollars relative to their incidence and mortality rates. We’re funding relatively well in terms of incidence, but cancers that are the most lethal—we don’t put enough funding into. We also found that cancers with higher incidence rates among the Black community received less funding.”

Is there an appetite from the public to use federal funds for cancer research?

Although the ongoing and planned budget cuts to cancer research funding in the US are discouraging, there is hope that public support for funding this research may be able to turn the tide, says Kamath. Notably, findings from a national survey that was conducted as part of the 15th Edition of the American Association for Cancer Research Cancer Progress Report revealed that a vast majority of respondents, regardless of political affiliation, were in support of using federal funding for medical and cancer research.^4,5 The online survey was conducted from August 26 to 30, 2025, and included 1001 registered voters.⁴

Results from the survey showed that 83% of respondents supported increased federal funding for cancer research, and 89% supported federal funding for all medical research.⁶ Forty-two percent of the 83% who supported increased federal funding for cancer research indicated that they strongly favored increased federal funding for cancer research, and 40% responded that they somewhat favored doing so. The support for increased federal funding was present regardless of the respondents’ political party: Democrat, Republican, and independent voters were in favor of increases at respective rates of 93%, 75%, and 75%.

Additionally, survey findings showed that respondents had confidence in cancer researchers and the NCI at rates of 71% and 65%, respectively. Notably, voters who said they prioritized reducing debt and federal spending indicated that increasing funding for research to treat, prevent, and cure diseases, including cancer, was their highest or a high priority, at a rate of 71%.

The respondents also indicated that members of Congress would receive a significant increase in favorability for supporting the increase in federal funding and a decline in favorability if they did not. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said that they would feel somewhat more or much more favorable toward their member of Congress if they learned that they voted to increase federal funding for cancer research over the next decade. Conversely, 75% said that they would feel somewhat or much less favorable toward their member of Congress if they learned that they voted for a 37% cut in federal funding for cancer research.

“This year, I’ve seen that with some pushback against some of the administration’s initiatives to cut back on federal funding, some of those programs have been restored,” Kamath said. “There are still going to be some cuts that are made, and those will hurt, but we do have a voice, and it’s something that I believe we need to use more. Our patients’ lives ride on that, and it’s on us to advocate for them.”

References

1. Trump’s war on science. United States Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. May 13, 2025. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/HELP-Committee-Minority-Report-Trumps-War-on-Science.pdf
2. Congressional justification FY 2026. National Cancer Institute. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/budget/congressional-justification/fy2026-nci-congressional-justification.pdf
3. Kamath SD. Disparities in NIH and federal cancer research funding across different cancer types. J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 16):11025. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.11025
4. New survey finds overwhelming public support for federal funding for medical and cancer research. News release. American Association for Cancer Research. September 17, 2025. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://www.aacr.org/about-the-aacr/newsroom/news-releases/new-survey-finds-overwhelming-public-support-for-federal-funding-for-medical-and-cancer-research/
5. AACR Cancer Progress Report 2025. American Association for Cancer Research. September 17, 2025. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://cancerprogressreport.aacr.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/AACR_CPR_2025.pdf
6. AACR Cancer Progress Report 2025 release. American Association for Cancer Research. September 17, 2025. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://www.aacr.org/professionals/policy-and-advocacy/science-policy-government-affairs/aacr-congressional-events/aacr-cancer-progress-report-2025-release/