NIH to End Its Brain-Research Partnership With NFL

The National Institutes of Health decided to end its brain-research partnership with the National Football League next month, two years after the NFL backed out of a major study on concussions in the game that was being led by a neuroscientist critical of the league, ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported Friday. Amid much fanfare, the NFL donated $30 million to the NIH five years ago, with the proviso the league would be able to exercise veto power over how the money could be used. The agreement is set to expire in August with $16 million still unspent. “If [the] NFL wishes to continue to support research at NIH, a simple donation to the NIH Gift Fund to support research on sports medicine would be favorably viewed, as long as the terms provided broad latitude in decisions about specific research programs,” NIH said in a statement Thursday. On Wednesday, a JAMA study reported finding the degenerative disease CTE in the brains of 110 of 111 deceased NFL players it studied.