June 21 (UPI) — The National Institutes of Health office responsible for issuing federal guidelines related to treatment of HIV and AIDS patients in the United States plans to phase them out next year.
The NIH Office of AIDS Research or OAR told its employees this week it intends to phase out the guidelines by next June, the Washington Post reported, citing an internal staff email.
According to the office, OAR “coordinates HIV/AIDS research across the National Institutes of Health and provides the largest public investment in HIV/AIDS research globally.”
“In the climate of budget decreases and revised priorities, OAR is beginning to explore options to transfer management of the guidelines to another agency within NIH,” the letter obtained by The Post reads.
The OAR guidelines contain guidelines related to diagnosis and treatments of HIV and AIDS.
There are currently more than 1 million people living with HIV in the United States.
It was not immediately clear what the other agency referred to in the letter was or how such a move may affect the guideline, the Post reported.
The news comes as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio move to cut over $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID and merge it into the State Department.
State Department officials say the move comes with the expectation that other countries will increase their roles in delivering aid around the world.
An April report published in the Lancet medical journal found around half a million children globally could die from AIDS by 2030 if the United States cuts its global relief funding.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of the HIV drug lenacapavir, which is produced by California-based biopharma firm Gilead Sciences under the name Yeztugo.
“Yeztugo is one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of our time and offers a very real opportunity to help end the HIV epidemic,” Gilead Science Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day said in a statement on the company’s website
