How government funding cuts are affecting cancer research at Duke
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
The Trump administration’s budget-cutting efforts are having a big impact on research universities, even as those efforts face legal challenges. When it comes to medical research, universities often plan years in advance. We’ll hear what uncertainty in funding means for one Duke University research lab. But first: Genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, and DoorDash is partnering with Klarna to offer buy now, pay later plans for food orders.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Money is not always in our genetic code. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. The Home Genetic |
| 0:08.4 | Testing Company, 23 and Me, has filed for protection from its creditors. It hopes to sell itself and |
| 0:13.8 | keep operating. There's a lot of very personal data in there. Marketplaces Nancy Marshall |
| 0:18.2 | Gensar has details. 23 and Me is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. |
| 0:23.7 | This type of bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize and keep going without being liquidated. |
| 0:29.1 | 23&Me uses saliva from its customers to test their DNA. |
| 0:33.7 | It says the tests show whether clients are prone to various diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's. |
| 0:39.5 | In a statement, the company says it filed for bankruptcy to facilitate a sale process and intends to keep operating, adding that it's, quote, committed to continuing to safeguard customer data. |
| 0:50.5 | Last year, 23 and Me settled a lawsuit, alleging it didn't adequately protect that information. |
| 0:56.3 | Millions of its client's data was stolen by hackers. |
| 0:59.4 | In a post on X, CEO Ann Wichitsky says she's resigning and intends to submit a bid to buy the company. |
| 1:07.0 | I'm Nancy Marshall Ginsburg for Marketplace. |
| 1:09.7 | A headline in the Wall Street Journal suggesting President Trump could delay tariffs on cars, trucks, microchips, and some other goods is boosting the mood of stock investors this morning. |
| 1:19.8 | The journal says auto companies and some other sectors will not get the tariffs on April the 2nd at least. |
| 1:26.1 | Budget cuts and warnings of cuts to come are forcing big |
| 1:29.2 | universities to make deep cuts of their own. This even as some budget slashing is running into |
| 1:34.3 | court challenges when it comes to medical research, universities plan years in advance. Marketplace is |
| 1:40.3 | Nova Safo now on how financial uncertainty is affecting one research lab at Duke University in North Carolina. |
| 1:47.7 | Research that started 30 years ago at Donald McDonald's laboratory at Duke University led to a new drug in 2023 to treat metastatic breast cancer. |
| 1:58.2 | Now he has a second drug in clinical trials. |
| 2:02.4 | Both of those drugs, let me just say, |
| 2:07.0 | were drugs that industry passed on years and years ago for other indications, and they were rediscovered by really inquisitive bright graduate students. McDonald's lap depends on a handful of those |
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