May 1, 2025
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congress

NIH still has bipartisan support

Republicans are loath to criticize Trump. Cuts to federal funding of medical research might be an exception, though their opposition might not matter.

Bipartisan support for reversing course on the Trump administration’s cuts to federally funded biomedical research was on full display at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

The administration is expected to soon seek permission to rescind federal funding that Congress already allocated, and to make its 2026 budget proposal. 

But it’s not clear that Congress can make the administration spend money for research, despite the fact that Congress has already appropriated the money for that research. The National Institutes of Health has scaled back grant awards by $2.3 billion since the beginning of the year. If HHS agencies don’t speed back up the pace of awarding grants, it will result in “impoundment by default,” according to Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Read more.

medicaid

House Democrats sharpen argument against Medicaid work requirements

House Democrats are out with a report on the potential impact of work requirements on Medicaid enrollment. 

Republicans are framing federal spending cuts to Medicaid as merely preventing waste, fraud, and abuse. Democrats are arguing that work requirement policy, which is the most popular Medicaid reform among Republicans, often results in people wrongly losing their health care. 

The report uses Arkansas and Georgia as case studies for what would happen if Republicans impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. Democrats say Georgia spends more on the administrative costs of implementing work requirements than on providing health care to residents who must meet the requirements.

 

vaccines

Divining vaccine regulation

The nation’s health secretary has provided plenty of reason to suspect that he will try to undermine the public’s trust in vaccines. STAT’s infectious disease reporter Helen Branswell provides eight indicators that will help determine whether those suspicions are correct.

What’s going on with Novavax’s Covid shot approval? Is the FDA proposing to overhaul the system for updating Covid shots? What is going to happen to Moderna’s next-generation Covid vaccine?

Read Helen’s story for the context around these questions, plus five more, to help understand the direction of HHS on vaccine regulation.

artificial intelligence

Awaiting instructions on AI

Health care providers know they’re not supposed to use technology tools that discriminate based on age, gender, race, and disability. But they don’t know how to comply with that rule, which takes effect today, health tech correspondent Katie Palmer reports. 

Federally-funded health systems must show they’ve tried to mitigate the risk of discrimination based on those legally protected traits.

But civil rights officials have not fully explained how health systems should go about complying with that rule, which could have big impacts for the use of AI in medicine.

animal studies

Do monkeys vote?

First, the FDA surprised medical researchers with a plan to phase out animal testing. Now, the NIH is following suit, Ed Silverman reports.

The NIH plans to create an office to “develop, validate and scale” the use of “non-animal approaches” to biomedical research. 

Both agencies plan to rely on computer modeling and artificial intelligence to model diseases and test drugs. They also will rely on real-world data to study outcomes. Read more from Ed about how the Trump administration plans to implement its animal-friendly approach to medical research.

HHS

What is the MAHA commission up to?

The “Make America Healthy Again” commission could be hugely influential, but it’s still not clear who is on it or what they’re doing, Isabella Cueto reports.

The commission has until May 24 to report on what might be causing childhood chronic disease, according to an order that Trump signed in February. The assessment will also document the state of chronic disease prevalence, treatment, and research.

The commission could shape the direction of federal health priorities under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It could also direct spending, as Trump has asked the commission to recommend cuts to federal practices that aren’t improving health. Read more from Isa here.

 

 

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What we’re reading

  • Novartis to buy kidney-focused biotech built around Nobel-winning discovery for $800 million, STAT
  • Kennedy Advises New Parents to ‘Do Your Own Research’ on Vaccines, NYT
  • Opinion: A dangerous new push to ban embryonic stem cell research funding is gaining momentum, STAT
  • Kennedy planning $20 million HHS 'Take Back Your Health' ad campaign, NBC News