The fishy part is - it is hard for any one organization to "unilaterally" kill a trial if it is legit, irb approved, etc. If it is a political situation at one

The fishy part is - it is hard for any one organization to "unilaterally" kill a trial if it is legit, irb approved, etc. If it is a political situation at one institution, people often move and take their grant funding with them. Keto diet trials aren't super complicated - if UMD wanted to restructure that unit, it would be easy for the PIs to set up shop either, say, across town at an equivalent psych ward at Johns Hopkins, or even do it privately via a CRO (contract research organization), etc.