The National Institutes of Health announced a new policy that puts under scrutiny foreign collaborations on research projects, especially when foreign partners receive sub-awards.
The new policy will take effect in October this year.
According to its requirements, the primary grantee, or the American partner, should receive from the foreign partner copies of the lab notebooks, their data, and documentation relevant to the research, at least once every 3 months.
The announcement comes after the lab leak theory for the spread of COVID-19 became more widely accepted after it was revealed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded—by way of sub-awards—gain-of-function research for bat coronaviruses in China. The research was conducted on how new, hybrid coronaviruses can be transmitted to humans….