IIRC they had a program like 20 years ago, they lost funding/support for it so it went away for a w
They did have a program for a while, and yes, it lost funding. The current director is actually a member of the 1st MD/PhD cohort at Brown, which was only PLME. They began accepting students from within the medical school (i.e. already accepted/enrolled at the medical school), but all applicants coming directly into the program were PLME, until around 2016-2017, when they officially started offering the MD/PhD application to students applying to Brown Medical School from elsewhere. The MD/PhD application was not part of AMCAS until 2018, I believe.
New students do get a tuition waiver, but they are still required to cover remaining costs, which include fees, living expenses, insurance, etc. So, for example, in 2018 the Tuition was $61,000 and the overall Cost-of-Attendance was $87,000, which means that, in general, students should budget 87-61 = ~$26,000 per year. This policy is unlikely to change unless and until Brown becomes a recognized MSTP-funded program, which takes years to obtain. Of course, any "Free money" is better than none, but I think its important we all know (and share!) how these things work in reality. For some, its worth it; for others, it isn't. But, an informed decision is the most important.
And, just to be precise, the program was advocated for by another faculty member who is not the current director, and the funding was obtained in 2016 from the Warren Alpert Foundation (same foundation that the school was named after in 2007 after a $1M donation) to expand the program as part of a new initiative -- Brown Institute for Translational Science -- which was a priority of the new dean, Jack Elias, who is an md/phd basic scientist. You can find this at:
Med School receives $27 million donation