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Members question VA on clinical trials and research continuity after hiring freeze and personnel actions
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Summary
Lawmakers pressed Secretary Collins about reports that clinical trials and research studies were paused or delayed; Collins said no trials were canceled by his office, but committee members asked for a central inventory and clearer management oversight of VA clinical research.
Members of the committee raised concerns about reports that clinical trials and research projects at VA facilities were delayed or paused amid the department’s hiring freeze and staffing changes.
Representative Mikie Sherrill and others told the committee they had received reports that some trials — including studies involving advanced head and neck cancer and other conditions — had not started or had stalled their enrollment. Collins said the VA has more than 1,500 clinical trials underway and that the department does not centrally manage all extramural trials; he told the committee that the trials themselves had not been canceled by VA and that several that had not begun were now recruiting.
Several members pressed for a clearer, centralized accounting of clinical trial status and asked how veterans who relied on trials for access to experimental treatments would be protected. Collins said his office would clarify which trials were delayed, which were paused, and which had not started, and said the department needed better “command-and-control” visibility over clinical research conducted at affiliated institutions and through external partners.
Representative Conor Lamb and others also raised the question of whether clinical trial pauses were being treated as elective, “above and beyond” care. Collins clarified that clinical trials can be treatment for individual veterans but said that some public statements had been mischaracterized; he emphasized that VA had not halted or canceled clinical trials systemwide and that the department intended to ensure continuity for veterans enrolled in or dependent on trials.
Lawmakers asked Collins to provide a site-by-site accounting of clinical-trial activity and any personnel or contract actions that affected trial recruitment or conduct during the hiring freeze and personnel reviews. The committee signaled it would follow up to ensure research continuity and patient protections where trials offer direct therapeutic benefit.
