The Trump administration has cut US government spending on health research to a 10-year low, forcing universities to dip into their endowment funds and hurting companies that sell lab supplies.

Treasury department data shows cash disbursed from the National Institutes of Health dropped to $2.8bn in May, down 28 per cent from April and the lowest absolute-dollar outlay since September 2014, according to Jefferies, an investment bank.

However, universities won a big legal battle on Monday that throws the NIH’s grant terminations into doubt. A federal judge in Boston ruled that NIH’s refusal to pay grants was arbitrary and illegal, according to Reuters. The judge, who was appointed by Republican president Ronald Reagan, ruled for 16 states and other organisations that challenged the NIH’s grant terminations.