The fees, which cover overhead costs, add an average of 27 percent to the cost of a grant but vary considerably. The Trump administration says some large research institutions, such as Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins, receive an indirect cost add-on equivalent to more than 60 percent of the grant.

The suits were filed in rapid succession in the days after the NIH announced on Feb. 7 that it would cap so-called indirect costs at a 15% rate as of Feb. 10, leading the judge to issue a temporary restraining order that placed a nationwide pause on the measure.

A federal judge on Friday again blocked the Trump administration's drastic cuts in medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and delay new lifesaving studies.