WASHINGTON — A study funded by the National Institutes of Health that would test if an antibiotic can prevent sexually transmitted infections in women has been terminated by the Trump administration as part of its ongoing attempt to halt what it considers “diversity, equity and inclusion” in scientific research.

While the drug has been approved for use in men, doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, also called Doxy PEP, has not been approved for use in women because of a lack of clinical research demonstrating that it would be effective. The study, which was to be launched in April, hoped to solve that problem.

The grant termination, which occurred Friday, comes as the public health system tries to find a way to cut increasing rates of babies being born with syphilis, which can lead to lifelong health complications and even death.

“Without that data, men have access to that product but women don’t, and so we can’t prevent the implications of STIs on fertility, birth defects, congenital syphilis, et cetera,” said Sybil Hosek, co-leader of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions Scientific Leadership Center, which received NIH funding to conduct that study and others.

“We have to find ways to prevent STIs among women,” said Hosek, noting that women under the age of 25 experience the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released clinical guidelines last year recommending Doxy PEP for men but noted that more clinical data is needed to make recommendations for women and other groups. Now that information won’t be available for the foreseeable future.

The study was just one being conducted through the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions, which formed in 2001 to find ways to prevent HIV in children. It has received NIH funding since 2001, but it was unceremoniously terminated Friday, with grantees told that the project “no longer effectuates agency priorities” and that “so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race.”

“I don’t know how anything we do could be conceived as DEI. We serve all youth. Infectious diseases, STIs, they don’t discriminate. And neither do we,” said Lisa Hightow-Weidman, co-leader of the network.

“The ATN is partly responsible for a decrease in HIV infections in youth because of the work we’re doing,” Hightow-Weidman said.

New HIV infections among people between ages 13 and 24 dropped by 30% from 2018 to 2022, according to the CDC. But researchers say more work is needed to find ways to get youth who need it engaged in testing, prevention and treatment.

The terminations are part of the Trump administration’s realignment of research priorities at NIH, a Health and Human Services spokesperson said.

Over the years, the network had evolved to study other health issues facing youth beyond HIV, including STIs, substance use and mental health. It was set to receive $18 million annually as part of a seven-year agreement with the NIH. This was to be the third year of the agreement.

The termination of grant funding to ATN will impact seven clinical trials that aimed to improve the health of youth. The trials have already started and were scheduled to begin in the coming months.

“To say we’re heartbroken is an understatement,” said Hosek, who argued that the work they were doing aligns with President Donald Trump’s initiative to “make America healthy again.”

“From the policy perspective, we feel that we are perfectly in line with making America healthy again. How can you not be when you’re working with adolescents?”

HIV research

The irony is the current studies were proposed to align with Trump’s initiative, announced in a 2019 State of the Union address, to end HIV in the United States by 2030.

Still, in the past several weeks, the administration has terminated at least 325 NIH grants, about 20% of which were studying HIV prevention and treatment. Other studies related to sexual health and substance use, which could also impact people with HIV or at risk of it.

“That’s one of the perplexing things to us, is that it’s not that a study was canceled or even a couple of studies. It’s the entire infrastructure that’s been built over decades was destroyed, and clearly that’s a disadvantage for any future research in this population,” said Hosek, referring to the network that helped lead to the development of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which people at risk for HIV can take to prevent infection.

Other ongoing studies funded by the network had aimed to improve screening of HIV for adolescents, who despite making up 20% of new infections are least likely, compared with other age groups, to be tested for HIV. Another study would have examined ways to improve access to PreP for those at risk, and another aimed to reduce stimulant use in people at risk for HIV.

“Stimulant use is a growing problem and puts individuals at increased risk of HIV acquisition,” said Katie Biello, a professor at Brown University School of Public Health, whose five-year trial through the ATN was terminated.

The study, which would test an intervention to reduce stimulant use in people at risk for HIV, had already enrolled 26 people.

_____

©2025 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.