The National Institutes of Health has opened another front in its cost cutting drive, saying it will cap the fees science journals charge for publishing papers authored by researchers it funds.

Without using the words “universal” or “nationwide,” a U.S. district judge granted a preliminary injunction July 1 to stop the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) reorganization plan, along with any workforce reduction that’s part of the plan.

After years of conversations surrounding indirect research costs, academic groups are now under the gun to quickly come up with an alternative to the NIH’s proposed 15% across-the-board cap on indirect costs and the decades-old university-by-university negotiated rate that can exceed a 50% add-on to a grant.

A publication based on longitudinal and cross sectional data and led by researchers at the U.S. NIH’s National Institute on Aging published on June 5, 2025, in Science has stated that the impact of taurine supplementation at delaying aging or treating aging-related conditions is context-dependent, and that the circulating levels of taurine are impacted by factors unique to each individual rather than declining with age. To qualify taurine as a true marker of aging, it should change with age across diverse populations over time and ideally supported by longitudinal data.

A publication based on longitudinal and cross sectional data and led by researchers at the U.S. NIH’s National Institute on Aging published on June 5, 2025 in Science has stated that the impact of taurine supplementation at delaying aging or treating aging-related conditions is context-dependent, and that the circulating levels of taurine are impacted by factors unique to each individual rather than declining with age. To qualify taurine as a true marker of aging, it should change with age across diverse populations over time and ideally supported by longitudinal data.

The Trump administration released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2026, which would chop roughly 40% from the NIH budget over the current fiscal year — a proposal that might not find much support on Capitol Hill.

In a throwback to the Obama administration, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing federally funded research using infectious pathogens and toxins that may pose a danger until a safer, more enforceable and transparent policy governing such research can be developed and implemented.

The Trump administration’s broad slash to university research budgets raises pertinent questions over impacts to the biopharma ecosystem, specifically how a changed trajectory of early research programs will affect tomorrow’s treatments and cures. Who is going to bridge research from idea to company if grants from the U.S. NIH are no longer an option?