The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has laid off 250 more employees, with this round of cuts hitting 50 workers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
“Guided by President Trump’s Executive Order, the department remains focused on cutting wasteful bureaucracy, eliminating duplicative administrative roles and allowing HHS to redirect resources where they’re most needed—delivering better outcomes for the American people,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told Fierce Biotech over email.
“HHS provided notification to approximately 250 new employees that they are being impacted by the reduction in force announced on March 27,” the spokesperson added, saying the notices were delivered on May 2.
On March 27, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced 10,000 termination notices, including 1,000 layoffs at the NIH. The Trump-nominated leader later said that about 20% of the layoffs were made in error.
"We thought the worst was behind us, and we were transitioning into this new phase, and the rug was just pulled out from underneath us," an employee receiving the May 2 notice told CBS News.
The new layoff round is designed to offset other scientists that need to be reinstated, two people close to the matter told CBS.
The federal cuts include about 50 employees at the NCI, the government's main center for cancer research and training. Those staffers worked in the agency’s communication office, according to CBS, managing programs that provide answers for physicians and patients, and updating databases compiling cancer information for providers.
In the initial layoff wave, several communications offices at the NIH were stripped back, though only a few NCI staffers were impacted.
The May 2 layoffs were delivered the same day Trump’s skinny budget proposal was announced. The 2026 plan slashes funds for NIH by $17.97 billion, a nearly 40% reduction from the year before.
At the time, spokespeople for HHS and NIH ignored questions from Fierce regarding possible additional layoffs occurring at the agency.
Furthermore, the 2026 proposal includes consolidating the NIH, which consisted of 27 centers and institutes at the beginning of this year, into five entities. The NCI is not mentioned in Trump’s proposal and an HHS spokesperson redirected Fierce to the Office of Management and Budget (OBM) when asked about the fate of the cancer center. As of publication, the OBM has not responded to Fierce.
The cuts are the first known layoffs conducted under NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., who said in a Senate confirmation hearing in early March that he wouldn’t cut more employees.
Bhattacharya was confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency at the end of March, saying earlier that he would work to ensure scientists “have the resources they need.”
“I don’t have any intention to cut anyone at the NIH,” he said, adding that he “was not involved” in the previous personnel cuts.
The HHS spokesperson did not respond to questions about Bhattacharya’s switch-up or if more cuts can be expected under his leadership.
The Trump administration continues to claim that the cuts will not impact HHS’ capabilities, despite numerous recent reports that contradict that sentiment.
“The May 2 action will have no negative impact on HHS functions or programs,” the spokesperson told Fierce. “HHS work serving the American people will continue without disruption.”
In spite of this, the NIH’s Clinical Center—the largest U.S. hospital dedicated solely to medical research—is having difficulty running clinical trials amid reduced staffing, Stat reported May 6.
Fewer patients are receiving treatment and some studies are months behind because of the recent disruptions, according to Stat interviews with 11 staffers and researchers at the center.
As staff are laid off or depart on their own terms, uncertainty about what workers will remain has prompted some scientists to cancel study launches. One person told Stat that the ambiguity has even caused some biopharmas to rethink research agreements and making investigational treatments available for trials.
“If you had someone in your family with a rare or refractory disease, you’d look every place you possibly could other than the NIH because of all of the turmoil going on there,” James Gilman, M.D., who retired in January from his CEO spot at the center, told Stat.
When asked about the challenges the NIH Clinical Center is facing, an HHS spokesperson said the agency “remains deeply committed to its mission of advancing research and delivering high-quality care to patients.”
The 10,000 layoffs announced in April came on the heels of probationary health staffers who were laid off earlier in the year, plus employee buyout offers. In total, 20,000 full-time employees—almost 25% of the HHS' headcount—are expected to be terminated from the March and April efforts.
On May 5, nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a new lawsuit against RFK Jr. in hopes of preventing the dismantling of the agency.
The plaintiffs argue that RFK Jr. has “dismantled the department in violation of Congress’s instructions, the U.S. Constitution, and the many statutes that govern the department’s programs and appropriate funds for it to administer.”