Category: NIH
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STAT+: NIH Director Bhattacharya to lead CDC after O’Neill’s exit
STAT+: NIH Director Bhattacharya to lead CDC after O’Neill’s exit WASHINGTON — National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will take on leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an acting basis, an administration official not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to STAT. Bhattacharya is taking the role after the previous acting…
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Scientists worry finalizing ‘Schedule F’ rule will further politicize NIH grant decisions
Scientists worry finalizing ‘Schedule F’ rule will further politicize NIH grant decisions The Trump administration is moving forward with a personnel rule that critics say will subject a broader swath of the federal workforce to political pressure, raising concerns that the change could deter accomplished scientists from joining the federal workforce and give political appointees…
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Opinion: STAT readers on shared decision-making, prostate cancer screening, and more
Opinion: STAT readers on shared decision-making, prostate cancer screening, and more First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and provocative articles about the life sciences writ large, written by biotech insiders, health care workers, researchers, and others. To encourage robust, good-faith discussion about issues raised in First Opinion essays, STAT publishes selected Letters to…
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Trump administration halts use of human fetal tissue in NIH-funded research
Trump administration halts use of human fetal tissue in NIH-funded research The Trump administration announced Thursday that human fetal tissue derived from abortions can no longer be used in research funded by the National Institutes of Health. The policy, long urged by anti-abortion groups, expands restrictions issued during President Donald Trump’s first term. Read the rest… Associated…
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STAT+: Unfilled vacancies have depleted NIH advisory councils, key players in grant approvals
STAT+: Unfilled vacancies have depleted NIH advisory councils, key players in grant approvals Since President Trump took office last January, only one new member has been added to the NIH advisory councils, key panels that make final recommendations on what research to fund at universities and medical centers, depleting their ranks as current members’ terms…
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STAT+: House and Senate appropriators endorse NIH budget increase, reject Trump’s proposed cuts
STAT+: House and Senate appropriators endorse NIH budget increase, reject Trump’s proposed cuts Congressional appropriations committees offered a near-total rebuke of President Trump’s proposed downsizing and reshaping of the National Institutes of Health in their spending bill for the 2026 fiscal year. In a compromise bill released Tuesday, Congress set NIH’s budget at $48.7 billion,…
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STAT+: What’s in Congress’ sweeping health care deal: PBM reform, telehealth, science funding
STAT+: What’s in Congress’ sweeping health care deal: PBM reform, telehealth, science funding WASHINGTON — Congress has reached a deal on several health care policies, including a crackdown on drug-industry middlemen, transparency measures for hospital billing, pediatric cancer research measures, and Medicare coverage of multi-cancer screening tests. Those measures are part of a bill to…
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STAT+: Limit on multiyear funding of NIH grants is a sticking point in Senate budget talks
STAT+: Limit on multiyear funding of NIH grants is a sticking point in Senate budget talks Last year, the country’s biomedical researchers watched with apprehension as the National Institutes of Health’s grant awards lagged billions of dollars behind the pace of previous years. Fears grew that the Trump administration would impound funds appropriated by Congress…
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Trump administration cuts up to $1.9 billion from mental health and addiction treatment programs
Trump administration cuts up to $1.9 billion from mental health and addiction treatment programs The federal agency that oversees mental health and addiction treatment on Tuesday made major cuts to programs across the behavioral health field, according to eight sources with knowledge of the decisions. While the exact funding cuts enacted by the Substance Abuse…
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Opinion: The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left
Opinion: The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left We are National Institutes of Health scientists and administrators with more than 50 years of collective civil service. Or, more accurately, we were NIH scientists and administrators. Read the rest… Sylvia Chou, Paul Grothaus, Alexa Romberg, and Vani Pariyadath Go to statnews
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NIH director says DEI-related grants that were restored under a court order won’t be renewed
NIH director says DEI-related grants that were restored under a court order won’t be renewed Throughout the year, researchers have been heartened by legal decisions pushing back on directives from the National Institutes of Health to halt and deprioritize work it deems related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In June, two suits filed against the…
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NIH begins review of thousands of delayed research proposals, funding 135 on first day
NIH begins review of thousands of delayed research proposals, funding 135 on first day A deal between the federal government and groups that sued the Trump administration over National Institutes of Health research grant proposals consigned to bureaucratic limbo because of anti-DEI policies is already bearing fruit. The agreement, which was reached Monday, came with…
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Trump administration agrees to reconsider frozen and denied NIH grant submissions related to DEI
Trump administration agrees to reconsider frozen and denied NIH grant submissions related to DEI The Trump administration has reached an agreement to reevaluate research projects left in bureaucratic limbo while a lawsuit over the termination of thousands of grants from the National Institutes of Health moves through the courts. The decision caps off a tumultuous…
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STAT+: Director of NIH neurological disorders institute is ousted, adding to leadership churn
STAT+: Director of NIH neurological disorders institute is ousted, adding to leadership churn Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, will soon be leaving his role, STAT has learned. His departure in the coming days means nearly half the 27 NIH divisions will have interim leaders. Koroshetz sent an email…
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Opinion: PubMed has competition from Germany. That’s a very good thing
Opinion: PubMed has competition from Germany. That’s a very good thing In May the German National Library of Medicine announced its plan to develop an open, sustainable, and sovereign alternative to PubMed, the free online biomedical database housed in the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. The announcement of this…
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Trump’s marijuana reclassification could boost research, broaden access
Trump’s marijuana reclassification could boost research, broaden access President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III substance, marking a major milestone in American drug policy and choosing sides in the debate between advocates for more research and drug policy hawks. Under the new classification,…
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STAT+: NIH funding rates for early-career researchers plunged in 2025, new data show
STAT+: NIH funding rates for early-career researchers plunged in 2025, new data show A Trump administration change to how the National Institutes of Health awards grants has reduced early-stage investigators’ odds of securing funding, new data from the agency show. During the 2025 fiscal year, 18.5% of early-stage researchers who applied for grants equivalent to…
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Dana-Farber to pay $15 million to settle Justice Department lawsuit over manipulated data
Dana-Farber to pay $15 million to settle Justice Department lawsuit over manipulated data Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s premier cancer research and treatment centers, is paying $15 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that some of its top researchers authored papers containing manipulated data. In its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice,…
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STAT+: House juggles options for extending ACA subsidies
STAT+: House juggles options for extending ACA subsidies You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since the election, Cheryl Hines hasn’t spoken to Larry David, her on-screen husband of 24 years…
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STAT+: NIH specifies how grant reviewers should ensure alignment with Trump priorities
STAT+: NIH specifies how grant reviewers should ensure alignment with Trump priorities Signaling a move toward the next phase of change, leaders at the National Institutes of Health have sent new guidance to its staff on how to further move its $39 billion portfolio in alignment with the Trump administration’s priorities. The seven-page guidance, sent…
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STAT+: At ‘hush-hush’ MAHA summit, RFK Jr. and deputies to mix with biotech leaders
STAT+: At ‘hush-hush’ MAHA summit, RFK Jr. and deputies to mix with biotech leaders WASHINGTON — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and many top deputies are scheduled to speak alongside industry executives and health activists at a daylong MAHA event on Wednesday that has not been publicly disclosed by administration officials or event organizers.…
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Appeals court judges seem skeptical of Trump administration’s defense of capping NIH overhead payments
Appeals court judges seem skeptical of Trump administration’s defense of capping NIH overhead payments Federal appeals court judges’ questions and comments during a hearing Wednesday suggested they may be skeptical of some of the Trump administration’s central arguments in a lawsuit challenging its proposed changes to research overhead payments. The case revolves around a multibillion…
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Amid attacks on such work, NIH-led research links structural racism to increased heart disease
Amid attacks on such work, NIH-led research links structural racism to increased heart disease The long-drawn-out process of science can mean that work is published in a very different world than when it was conceived. That helps explain how research on the health impact of structural racism that was led by the National Institutes of…
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Former NIH leaders lament ‘constant chaos’ at the agency, and caution it’s not over
Former NIH leaders lament ‘constant chaos’ at the agency, and caution it’s not over BOSTON — Jeremy Berg walked on stage sporting a curious look: a red tie patterned with a word cloud drawn from the applications of 197 researchers who vied to be part of a National Institutes of Health initiative aimed at accelerating…
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STAT+: How the government establishes research grant overhead rates: ‘It’s not like buying a widget’
STAT+: How the government establishes research grant overhead rates: ‘It’s not like buying a widget’ For decades, the federal government has supported the infrastructure that makes biomedical breakthroughs possible at universities, academic hospitals, and other research institutions. But recent moves by the Trump administration and Congress reinforce that this system seems headed for a major…
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STAT+: Anthony Letai of Dana-Farber is front-runner to lead National Cancer Institute
STAT+: Anthony Letai of Dana-Farber is front-runner to lead National Cancer Institute Anthony Letai, a cancer researcher and oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University, has emerged as a leading candidate to be the next director of the National Cancer Institute, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation. The NCI…
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STAT+: Harvard federal funding set to resume — at least for now
STAT+: Harvard federal funding set to resume — at least for now Federal agencies have begun to inform Harvard that it is in the process of restoring at least some of its previously canceled research funding. The notices come a week after a federal judge in Boston said the Trump administration illegally canceled nearly $3…
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STAT+: House bill cuts HHS budget but excludes RFK Jr.’s reorganization, maintains NIH funding
STAT+: House bill cuts HHS budget but excludes RFK Jr.’s reorganization, maintains NIH funding WASHINGTON — House appropriators will mark up legislation on Tuesday that is a mixed bag for researchers. While the Republican bill rejects President Trump’s proposal to slash the National Institutes of Health budget, it proposes deep cuts to the Centers for…
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HHS terminates NIH program aimed at diversifying biomedical workforce
HHS terminates NIH program aimed at diversifying biomedical workforce The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating a National Institutes of Health grant program that supports students from marginalized backgrounds in the biomedical sciences. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the elimination of the program — the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program —…
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HHS moves to strip thousands of federal health workers of union rights
HHS moves to strip thousands of federal health workers of union rights NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has moved to strip thousands of federal health agency employees of their collective bargaining rights, according to a union that called the effort illegal. HHS officials confirmed Friday that the department is…
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Supreme Court lets Trump administration cut $783 million of research funding in anti-DEI push
Supreme Court lets Trump administration cut $783 million of research funding in anti-DEI push WASHINGTON — The Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Supreme Court decided Thursday. The high court majority lifted a judge’s order blocking $783 million…
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NIH director: mRNA vaccine contracts were canceled because public lacks trust in technology
NIH director: mRNA vaccine contracts were canceled because public lacks trust in technology The head of the National Institutes of Health has offered a new explanation for why the federal government canceled $500 million in contracts to help develop messenger RNA vaccines, saying the platform is not viable because the public doesn’t trust it. The…
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STAT+: After years of close mentorship, Harvard’s president and Jay Bhattacharya enter dramatic new territory
STAT+: After years of close mentorship, Harvard’s president and Jay Bhattacharya enter dramatic new territory In early May, Harvard president Dr. Alan Garber received a letter from the National Institutes of Health notifying him that hundreds of scientific grants had been rescinded, as the next step in the escalating battle between Harvard and the Trump…
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STAT+: Trump executive order seeks to centralize control of grantmaking under political appointees
STAT+: Trump executive order seeks to centralize control of grantmaking under political appointees A sweeping new executive order seeks to transform how the federal government awards billions of dollars in research grants by giving President Trump’s political appointees unprecedented power over the projects agencies fund. The order issued Thursday night, titled “Improving Oversight Of Federal…
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STAT+: Unpacking Trump’s approach to health care oversight
STAT+: Unpacking Trump’s approach to health care oversight You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was reminded recently of why I dig mass transit upon overhearing the train conductor and…
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Trump administration violated impoundment law by canceling NIH grants, slowing new awards, GAO finds
Trump administration violated impoundment law by canceling NIH grants, slowing new awards, GAO finds In a scathing report issued Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration, by abruptly canceling National Institutes of Health grants, had violated a 1974 law blocking presidents from withholding funding Congress has approved. The independent congressional watchdog said…
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STAT+: Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut
STAT+: Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut WASHINGTON — Senators from both parties endorsed a $400 million increase to the budget of the National Institutes of Health on Thursday, in an Appropriations Committee vote that represents a clear rebuke of President Trump’s plan to dramatically reduce the agency’s spending.…
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STAT+: Basic science publications have been falling for a decade. NIH budget cut would likely accelerate the decline
STAT+: Basic science publications have been falling for a decade. NIH budget cut would likely accelerate the decline The number of basic science papers published by recipients of National Institutes of Health grants has been falling since 2013, the year the agency’s budget was cut by 5%, according to a new analysis. President Trump’s budget…
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STAT+: AlphaFold developer Google DeepMind to fund CASP as NIH funding falls short
STAT+: AlphaFold developer Google DeepMind to fund CASP as NIH funding falls short CASP, the protein structure prediction contest that launched DeepMind’s AlphaFold to international fame and a Nobel Prize, has secured temporary funding to continue operations. The organization’s current funding — from the National Institutes of Health — is set to run out in…
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NIH grant cuts, FDA transparency questions, and biotech M&A
NIH grant cuts, FDA transparency questions, and biotech M&A On this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD”: a closer look at the NIH’s grant-cutting legal playbook, a not-so-transparent transparency push by the FDA commissioner, and another big biotech acquisition. Our colleague Anil Oza joins us to unravel a previously unseen memo he obtained from HHS…
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STAT+: Fed-up and demoralized, FDA staff are leaving.
STAT+: Fed-up and demoralized, FDA staff are leaving. You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Between innings of the July 4 Chesapeake Baysox game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels there was…
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STAT+: HHS devises legal playbook for future grant terminations, internal memo shows
STAT+: HHS devises legal playbook for future grant terminations, internal memo shows As the National Institutes of Health recently paused its campaign to terminate billions of dollars in grants, its parent agency was starting to lay out a more cautious and legally rigorous strategy for canceling research deemed out of step with Trump administration priorities,…
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STAT+: RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers meet, Monarez gets grilled
STAT+: RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers meet, Monarez gets grilled You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After making a brief visit to the hospital due to feeling lightheaded, Senate Minority Leader…
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STAT+: NIH halts grant terminations ‘effective immediately,’ email says
STAT+: NIH halts grant terminations ‘effective immediately,’ email says Days after a federal judge ordered the restoration of more than 1,000 biomedical research grants, the National Institutes of Health is halting further terminations of grants, an internal email shows. Since President Trump’s inauguration in January, the nation’s largest biomedical research funder has terminated an unprecedented…
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STAT+: Senators push back on Trump’s proposed $18 billion NIH budget cut
STAT+: Senators push back on Trump’s proposed $18 billion NIH budget cut National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya faced sharp questions on Tuesday from Republican and Democratic members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee about the agency’s 2026 budget, with lawmakers struggling to reconcile his stated commitment to biomedical research with recent grant terminations, funding…
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NIH walks back ban on new grants for universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts
NIH walks back ban on new grants for universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts The National Institutes of Health has, for now, walked back a policy requiring universities and other research institutes to certify that they do not have unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or boycotts of Israel in order to receive research…
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STAT+: NIH details how Trump budget would cut support for grants, training, and research centers
STAT+: NIH details how Trump budget would cut support for grants, training, and research centers WASHINGTON — President Trump’s 2026 budget proposes slashing the National Institutes of Health’s central function, supporting research by awarding grants to universities, academic medical centers, and other institutions, by 43% compared to 2025 levels. New documents released by the agency…
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Massive NIH study challenges use of race as a proxy for genetic ancestry in research
Massive NIH study challenges use of race as a proxy for genetic ancestry in research A large government study published Thursday shows more definitively than ever before that Americans’ self-reported race is a poor proxy for their genetic ancestry. Researchers said the findings have major implications for the way health disparities are studied, and how…
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STAT+: New HHS document details deep NIH cuts as part of Trump budget request
STAT+: New HHS document details deep NIH cuts as part of Trump budget request The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday released a summary of President Trump’s budget request for the 2026 fiscal year that provides the most detailed look yet at how his administration hopes to reshape the National Institutes of Health…
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LGBTQ+ researchers sue HHS, NIH over grant cuts
LGBTQ+ researchers sue HHS, NIH over grant cuts A group of physicians and researchers working on LGBTQ+ health sued the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday over the sweeping grant terminations that have impacted medical research on queer people as part of the implementation of President Trump’s executive…
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Trump’s science adviser calls for return to ‘gold-standard’ research to kickstart stalled advances
Trump’s science adviser calls for return to ‘gold-standard’ research to kickstart stalled advances President Trump’s science adviser, Michael Kratsios, called for a return to reproducible and transparent research to kickstart what he characterized as years of stalled scientific progress, in his first detailed public remarks on science policy since taking office in March. Kratsios, who…
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‘What wouldn’t I be worried about?’: Research leaders discuss threats to U.S. science
‘What wouldn’t I be worried about?’: Research leaders discuss threats to U.S. science Attacks on efforts to diversify the sciences. Research grant terminations. Fear among scientists to speak out against the government. Cuts to international aid. These were some of a long list of concerns shared by three research leaders as they discussed the state…
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STAT+: In combative hearings, Kennedy defends HHS cuts, backtracks — and lashes out
STAT+: In combative hearings, Kennedy defends HHS cuts, backtracks — and lashes out WASHINGTON — In hours of combative congressional hearings Wednesday, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. swung between defending sweeping changes at his agency and backtracking on aspects of a reorganization he nevertheless said would be “painful.” He repeatedly cast doubts on reports about…
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STAT+: GOP hits resistance on Medicaid cuts, and a brewing plan to lower drug prices
STAT+: GOP hits resistance on Medicaid cuts, and a brewing plan to lower drug prices You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A horse named Journalism was favored to win the…
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Scientists question NIH project’s use of 20th century technology to make a universal flu vaccine
Scientists question NIH project’s use of 20th century technology to make a universal flu vaccine When word broke this week that the Department of Health and Human Services was investing half-a-billion dollars on a National Institutes of Health project to develop a vaccine platform for pathogens that could trigger pandemics, a number of scientists who…
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STAT+: At AACR, leading cancer researchers urge colleagues to ‘fight for your science’
STAT+: At AACR, leading cancer researchers urge colleagues to ‘fight for your science’ CHICAGO — In the first few weeks of President Trump’s second term, many leaders and top scientists in cancer research found themselves questioning if they could have communicated better to the public. After all, experts told STAT, maybe if people understood how…
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STAT+: Overseas grants could be ‘closed down’ by NIH under new policy, internal email suggests
STAT+: Overseas grants could be ‘closed down’ by NIH under new policy, internal email suggests A National Institutes of Health policy change on funding of foreign scientists is far more sweeping than described in a Thursday announcement, according to an internal email that indicates international clinical trials and other research will be strictly vetted going…
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STAT+: Trump proposes billions in cuts to federal health agencies from NIH to CDC
STAT+: Trump proposes billions in cuts to federal health agencies from NIH to CDC WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday proposed massive cuts to the federal government’s health agencies in his 2026 budget request, arguing that Congress should reduce spending by tens of billions from current levels. The request would be a 26% cut to…
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Assessing the impact of Trump’s first 100 days on science and health policy
Assessing the impact of Trump’s first 100 days on science and health policy On this week’s episode of the Readout LOUD, we review President Trump’s first 100 days, the return of biotech M&A, strong drug launches, and Eli Lilly’s PBM problem. The first 100 days of the Trump administration have had a profound impact on…
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NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths
NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has cancelled federal participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep, STAT and the Medill News Service have learned. The elimination of the National Institutes of Health’s role in the…
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STAT+: Collins and fellow GOP senators speak out in opposition to Trump’s cuts to biomedical research
STAT+: Collins and fellow GOP senators speak out in opposition to Trump’s cuts to biomedical research WASHINGTON — There was broad bipartisan support at a Senate hearing Wednesday to reverse course on the Trump administration’s cuts to federally funded biomedical research. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, kicked off…
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U.S. government researchers present ‘phenomenal’ new data on HPV vaccines
U.S. government researchers present ‘phenomenal’ new data on HPV vaccines CHICAGO — A clinical trial run by the National Cancer Institute seems to confirm that a single dose of the vaccine used to prevent infection with the human papilloma virus is just as effective as two — and, therefore, also helps to prevent cancer. The result…
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STAT+: NIH announces six new acting institute directors, many of them filling posts of ousted predecessors
STAT+: NIH announces six new acting institute directors, many of them filling posts of ousted predecessors The National Institutes of Health on Friday announced six acting directors to run institutes, many to fill vacancies created by the ouster of predecessors as part of the Trump administration’s unprecedented reshaping of federal scientific agencies. In an email…
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Rural health study is told it’s losing federal funds, and other major heart studies are worried
Rural health study is told it’s losing federal funds, and other major heart studies are worried Vasan Ramachandran is baffled. A cardiologist and veteran of the famed Framingham Heart Study, he is struggling to understand why a similar study he brought to life in 10 rural counties across four Southern states is facing elimination. The…
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STAT+: No new autism registry, HHS says, walking back NIH director’s claim
STAT+: No new autism registry, HHS says, walking back NIH director’s claim The federal health department is not creating a new registry of Americans with autism, a Department of Health and Human Services official said in a written statement Thursday. Instead, the official said, HHS will launch a $50 million research effort to understand the…
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Day by day, how Trump is roiling science and health
Day by day, how Trump is roiling science and health It’s hard to remember all the earthshaking decisions and events that have transpired with unprecedented speed in the first few months of the Trump administration. We’re tracking, day by day, what’s happened in the worlds of science and health. Key Legal action Covid DEI and…
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STAT+: NIH chief voices support for Nora Volkow, head of drug addiction research institute
STAT+: NIH chief voices support for Nora Volkow, head of drug addiction research institute The director of the National Institutes of Health gave a ringing endorsement to the nation’s top addiction researcher, Nora Volkow, this week in his first public remarks on the drug overdose crisis — a potential signal that her position as leader…
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STAT+: Research grants as political ammo; Death to dyes?
STAT+: Research grants as political ammo; Death to dyes? You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. STAT won its first National Magazine Award for General Excellence. Not bad, huh? Help us…
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STAT+: NIH bans all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts
STAT+: NIH bans all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts The National Institutes of Health will begin prohibiting the awarding of new grants to any institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies, in an escalation of the Trump administration’s use of research funding as leverage to dismantle activities at…
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STAT+: Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze
STAT+: Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging that the government’s campaign to alter the school’s policies while cutting off research funding is unconstitutional. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, the university’s lawyers argued that the government’s “attempt to coerce and control Harvard”…
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STAT+: NIH director calls Trump’s anti-DEI orders ‘misunderstood,’ downplays reorganization plans
STAT+: NIH director calls Trump’s anti-DEI orders ‘misunderstood,’ downplays reorganization plans National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya on Monday asserted that the agency remains committed to research that advances the health of minorities — despite the Trump administration’s sharp focus on rolling back programs dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Bhattacharya said that President…
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STAT+: NIH said to have halted awarding of new grants to top universities
STAT+: NIH said to have halted awarding of new grants to top universities Embattled universities whose funding from the National Institutes of Health has been frozen may face further financial strain as the agency holds off awarding new grants to at least half a dozen of them, according to an email obtained by STAT. The…
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STAT+: Leaked budget document outlines how Kennedy may cut up HHS to build new AHA
STAT+: Leaked budget document outlines how Kennedy may cut up HHS to build new AHA An internal budget document leaked to the press on Wednesday gives the clearest vision yet of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s planned chronic disease-fighting agency, the Administration for a Healthy America. The Office of Management and Budget document, which STAT obtained,…
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STAT+: Harvard scientist ordered to halt multicenter TB trial in funding freeze
STAT+: Harvard scientist ordered to halt multicenter TB trial in funding freeze A top scientist at Harvard who has spent years unraveling the mysteries of tuberculosis woke up Tuesday morning and discovered an order from the federal government telling her to halt her research. The stop-work order from the National Institutes of Health arrived hours…
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STAT+: Key NIH grant review panels resume meeting, but are not ‘back to normal’
STAT+: Key NIH grant review panels resume meeting, but are not ‘back to normal’ After being indefinitely suspended in the first days of the Trump administration, key National Institutes of Health committees that approve research grants resumed meeting this week. It appears to be a positive step toward restoring the flow of billions of dollars…
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U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% over five years, NIH study finds
U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% over five years, NIH study finds A new U.S. government paper documenting an increase in maternal mortality from 2018 to 2022 does not hedge in its conclusion, calling the issue “an urgent public health priority.” That it was published amid massive job and funding cuts at federal health agencies…
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STAT+: Federal judge issues permanent injunction on Trump cuts to research overhead payments
STAT+: Federal judge issues permanent injunction on Trump cuts to research overhead payments A federal judge on Friday ordered a permanent injunction blocking a Trump administration policy that would slash billions in research overhead payments to universities, academic medical centers, and other grant-receiving institutions. Paradoxically, the Trump administration had requested that very verdict earlier in…
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STAT+: Five NIH institute directors and numerous lab heads ousted in unprecedented shake-up
STAT+: Five NIH institute directors and numerous lab heads ousted in unprecedented shake-up Directors of five National Institutes of Health institutes and at least two other members of senior leadership have been placed on administrative leave or offered new assignments since Monday, topping a list of hundreds of employees notified in the last 24 hours…
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Opinion: Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala on the agency’s ‘silly new bureaucracy’
Opinion: Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala on the agency’s ‘silly new bureaucracy’ When I was secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, an agency head came to me with a dramatic reorganization plan. I advised him that unless it was data- and outcome-driven, he was wasting his time. Just…