The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday it plans to fund a study into longtime blood donation restrictions placed on gay and bisexual men.

Originally introduced in 1977 as a lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have a same-sex partner, the FDA in 2015 changed its policy to a one-year waiting period for men following same-sex relations.

This new study has the potential to fully eliminate the controversial ban altogether, reports ABC News.

The FDA’s announcement comes on the heels of the United Kingdom’s announcement that it will be suspending all restrictions on blood donations for men who have a same-sex partner.

In April, the FDA further relaxed blood donation restrictions due to a severe drop in blood donations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dubbed “ADVANCE: Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility”, the new study will work alongside various LGBTQ+ centers and three of the nation’s largest blood donation centers: Red Cross, Vitalant and OneBlood.

The goal of the study is to determine whether donor deferral should be based on individual situations rather than blanket rules, according to ABC.

“The FDA remains committed to considering alternatives to time-based deferral by generating the scientific evidence that is intended to support an individual risk assessment-based blood donor questionnaire,” a spokesman for the FDA said to ABC.

Right now, the study includes 2,000 men who have had a past sexual encounter with a member of their own gender and wish to donate blood.

Dr. Brian Custer, one the head researchers on study, hopes that these men “could generate data that will help the FDA determine if a donor questionnaire based on individual risk assessment would be as effective as time-based deferrals in reducing the risk of HIV.”

Researchers are hoping to have the results of this study by late 2021.