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G2G Bio Bulletin – April 7, 2026

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G2G Bio Bulletin – April 7, 2026

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Funding & Other Opportunities

  • New ARPA-H Program: Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics (STOMP). Highlights:
    • Across two phases STOMP aims to develop methods to accurately characterize and image microplastic particles, and translate these findings to develop solutions to quantify a patient’s microplastic burden, and to remove them from the body.
    • Upcoming Deadlines - Proposer’s Day: April 22, Solution Summary Due: May 6
  • Previously Posted Programs with Near Term Deadlines:
  • All of Us: The initiative is hosting a free, virtual event on April 15 to learn about its dataset and future directions in precision medicine. Register here.

Updates from Washington

Congress: Both the House and Senate remain in recess through this week.
  • FY 2026 Appropriations: Following intervention from President Trump, House Republicans reversed course and agreed to pass the Senate plan to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Two immigration enforcement agencies excluded from the plan, are to to be funded by a Republican-only reconciliation bill. That bill may also be a vehicle for additional Republican healthcare priorities.
  • FY 2027 Appropriations: As outlined previously, the Trump Administration released its budget request on Friday. OMB Director Russel Vought is expected to testify on the proposal before the House and Senate Budget Committees on April 15 and April 16, respectively. Additional highlights gleaned from released documents and statements from officials are as below. Unless otherwise noted, increases or decreases in funding are relative to FY 2026 enacted level. As a reminder, this is a statement of the Administration’s budget priorities. Congress ultimately still writes the appropriations bills and sets funding levels.
  • Defense: Further justification details for the 33% increase in spending are expected on April 21. Some available details on expected military health and medical portfolios include:
    • Budget reforms how combat medical readiness is funded, and treating combat medicine as a core warfighting capability.
    • Stable, mission-focused resources for combat casualty care training, deployable medical platforms and operational medical readiness pipelines.
    • HHS:

      • Administration for a Healthy America (AHA): Resurfaces a proposal from last year that would consolidate various HHS agencies and would have a discretionary budget of $14.7 B:
        • Merges the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, HRSA, SAMSHA and some components of CDC, for illness prevention initiatives.
        • Focus areas will be primary care, maternal & child health, mental & behavioral health, HIV/AIDS,  health workforce development
      • ARPA-H: Proposes funding of $945 M, a $555 M cut.
        • Efforts to be divided across five areas (in contrast with current four mission offices): chronic disease, domestic manufacturing & rural access, proactive health, healthcare security, efficiency & transparence, and American Leadership in Frontier Health Technologies
      • ASPR:
        • Most programs are earmarked for cuts including BARDA, which would see a reduction in funding of $290 M or 31% cut.
        • Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is flat funded at $938 M
        • Pandemic Preparedness and Biodefense Program gets a massive boost from $2 M to $327 M to support the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Reserve (SAPIR)
      • CDC: Proposes funding of $13.3 B, a $475 M cut
        • Defunds Prevention & Public Health Fund
        • Increases to Immunization & Respiratory Disease, Emerging & Zoonotic Diseases and Public Health & Scientific Services programs, of $50 M, $94 M and $95 M respectively.
        • Decreases to Viral Hepatitis, STD & TB, and Public Health Preparedness & Response programs of $70 M and  $394 M, respectively.
        • Flat funds Global health programs at $664 M.
        • Of the proposed funding, notably $45 M goes to Biothreat Radar Detection System that was proposed last year, and $219 M is directed to enhance prevention and detection of antimicrobial resistant threats.
      • CMS: Proposes to move administration of the 340B drug discount program from HRSA to CMS, as outlined previously.
      • FDA: Proposes funding of $7.2 B  ($3.3 B in discretionary) or a $232 M increase.
        • CDER and CDRH get increases of a $39 M and $92 M respectively.
        • CBER gets a $27 M cut.
        • $5 M to develop alternates to animal testing
      • NIH:
        • In addition to eliminating three ICs, the budget also consolidates the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) and Drug Abuse (NIDA) into the National Institute of Substance Use and Addiction Research. It also proposes that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) be moved into the CDC
        • All ICs except for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) get funding cuts. The largest proposed cut is to the National Institute of Allergy & Infections Disease (NIAID) of $1.8 B or 27% lower than the previous year. 
        • Of the remaining funding, $60 M is intended for integrated chronic disease research, $25 M for research on biomarkers driving aging, $60 M for the NIH Real-World Data Platform, $25 M to reduce reliance on animal testing, and $100 M to elevate replication and reproducibility of science.
      • Other Highlights & Reactions 
        • AHRQ is folded into a new HHS Office of Strategy
        • Secretary Kennedy is scheduled to testify on the HHS proposal before the House Ways and Committee on April 16 and the Senate’s Committees on Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) and Finance (SFC) on April 22
        • Key appropriators have pushed back on the proposed cuts to biomedical research, including Senate Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA).
    • NASA: Proposes funding of $18.8 B, or a $5.6 B cut 
      • Science budget to be cut by $3.4 B primarily by terminating 40 missions.
      • Funding for lunar missions is increased substantially.
    • NIST: Proposes funding of $856 M, a $993 M or 53.7% cut
    • NSF: Proposes funding of $4 B, a $4.8 B or 54.7% cut
    • USDA: Cuts ~$500 M from grant budget of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) and ~$15M from grant budget of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). A handful of ARS facilities are proposed to be moved to different locations throughout the country.
Administration & Agencies:
  • CMS
    • The agency has issued a final rule on changes to cost sharing for Medicare Part D and the ratings system for Medicare Advantage plans, and has issued proposed rules on transparency for hospices and an increase in payments to nursing homes.
    • The Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Innovation pilot, launched in January and focused on using AI to make certain coverage decisions for traditional Medicare beneficiaries, is expected to see pushback on funding allocations from Congressional Democrats as part of the FY 2027 appropriations process.
  • White House, Other HHS Divisions & Departments:
    • Drug Tariffs: Last Thursday, the White House announced the imposition of 100% tariffs on imported brand-name drugs, under Section 232, which have been on the horizon for some time.
      • Larger companies that have struck deals with the Administration, are exempted from these duties, and others who have committed to at least onshore production can have these rates reduced by 20%.
      • Smaller and midsize companies are actively in discussions with the Administration about striking their own deals.
    • Concurrently, the office of the US Trade Representative has announced that a deal has been struck with UK, allowing tariff-free imports of British medical products to the US through January 2029, in exchange for the UK agreeing to pay more for certain medicines.
      • Title X Funding: Family planning clinics will receive the final year of funding as part of the five-year Title X program, after the Trump Administration conceded it could not prevent allocated dollars from being disbursed. New award notices for FY 2027 are expected to be revised to better align with Administration priorities.
      • Mental Health: The Administration will review a Biden-era rule requiring parity in employers’ mental health insurance benefits by EOY.
      • Federal Trade Commission: The FTC is creating a new healthcare task force that would focus on combating anticompetitive behavior in the sector. Membership is expected to include affiliates of HHS and DOJ.

Reminder: Don’t miss the monthly GBG Report call every third Thursday of the month at 12 pm ET where the team discusses the latest federal life sciences funding opportunities. G2G has raised $612M and is eager to share our expertise to help companies grow and accelerate bringing innovations to patients.