A San Diego scientist’s yearslong search for answers on Gulf War illness has reached a frustrating fork: researchers have a new diagnostic code and an active clinical trial, but Congress has left the main toxic-exposure research fund at half its previous level. For veterans who have spent decades being told their symptoms were difficult to define, the timing could hardly be more consequential.
The funding reduction was detailed in a Times of San Diego report based on reporting from The War Horse. The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs’ toxic-exposure account fell from $30 million in fiscal year 2025 to $15 million, and the CDMRP’s FY2026 release shows it remained at $15 million this year.
A Long-Disputed Illness Finally Gets A Code
Gulf War illness is associated with persistent fatigue, cognitive problems, headaches, pain, breathing issues and other symptoms. Estimates from VA research place the number of affected veterans between roughly 175,000 and 250,000, while the agency says there is still no established cure.
That medical uncertainty began to shift last year. The CDC’s ICD-10 proposal created code T75.830 for Gulf War illness, and the code became part of the federal classification system on October 1, 2025, according to UC San Diego. That gives doctors and researchers a standardized way to record the condition, identify patients and evaluate potential treatments.
La Jolla Researchers Are Still Testing A Potential Treatment
UC San Diego physician-scientist Beatrice Golomb has argued that Gulf War illness is tied to impaired mitochondria, the cell structures responsible for producing energy, rather than inflammation alone. A UC San Diego study found mitochondrial abnormalities in veterans with the illness, helping push research toward treatments aimed at restoring cellular energy.
That work has moved into a larger test in La Jolla. The UCSD clinical-trial listing says Golomb is recruiting veterans ages 50 and older for a Phase 3 study of coenzyme Q10, with an expected enrollment of 192 participants and estimated completion in December 2027.
Why The Cut Matters Beyond One Grant Cycle
The research program is important partly because it is open to scientists outside the Department of Veterans Affairs, allowing university teams to compete for funding. The War Horse reported that researchers have already been unable to secure money for some Gulf War illness projects, including biomarker work and efforts to help recruit participants for studies.
For Golomb’s lab, the funding fight is not an abstract budget dispute; past CDMRP grants helped support the San Diego research that identified mitochondrial dysfunction in Gulf War veterans. The concern is that interruptions now could slow a pipeline that has only recently produced a formal diagnostic code, stronger biological evidence and a treatment trial with years still left to run.
Veterans are not waiting for a neat ending. They are still managing chronic pain, exhaustion, breathing problems and cognitive symptoms while researchers try to turn decades of scattered evidence into reliable care, and the next congressional funding decision will help determine whether that progress continues or stalls.
