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G2G Bioscience Bulletin – February 7, 2026

Federal Legislative Updates
Ohio Legislative Updates
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G2G Bioscience Bulletin – February 7, 2026

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Funding Opportunity

DARPA BTO has announced a new program, Protean. Key details are as follows:

  • Aims to advance the next generation of medical countermeasures against chemical weapons, by engineering proteins that can neutralize toxic agents at the molecular level.

  • Upcoming deadlines: Virtual Proposers Day - February 20 (Register by February 17)

Updates from Washington

Congress:
  • FY 2026 Appropriations: On Tuesday, the partial government shutdown ended, after the House approved a funding package for most of the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, which President Trump subsequently signed into law. The package includes agencies and programs covered by the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education spending bills. A stopgap measure extending through the end of next week would fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while Congress debates changes to immigration enforcement. The vote was bipartisan with 21 Democrats joining most Republicans in voting in favor of the package, and 21 Republicans joining most Democrats in voting against.
  • FY 2027: Even as the DHS funding bill for FY 2026 remains unresolved, the appropriations process for the next fiscal year have commenced. The President’s budget proposal, which marks the formal beginning of the process, is expected to be released some time this month. The FY 2027 National Defense Authorization (NDAA) process has also started.
  • ACA: Negotiations over extending enhanced tax credits in the Senate have effectively ended, with no clear path forward.
  • Drug Pricing Plans:
    • This past week, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee released a drug pricing policy framework. Elements of the plan include: referencing international prices as part of Medicare drug pricing negotiations, reducing patient cost-sharing for branded drugs and using the tax code to incentivize R&D and support new sources of funding for drug development.
    • Separately, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz met with Republicans on Senate Finance to argue in favor of codifying most favored nation (MFN) drug pricing, which aligns with announcements made by the White House over the last year.
  • Biotechnology, Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness:
    • House:
      • The newly introduced Defense Technology Hubs Act would establish a network of regional hubs to foster innovation, collaboration, and rapid development of defense-related technologies. Hub objectives include accelerating R&D, prototyping, and transition to operational use of emerging technologies, including biotechnology innovations.
      • Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA): Reps. Neal Dunn (R-FL) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) are requesting information from stakeholders on legislation to reauthorize PAPHA, which guides federal preparedness and response to pandemics and other health emergencies. Responses can be submitted here. The deadline for submissions is February 17.
    • Senate: The newly introduced Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act would:
      • Require gene synthesis providers screen their orders and customers to ensure bad actors are not ordering dangerous sequences
      • Establish a biotechnology governance sandbox at NIST, to test biosecurity tools and allow for flexible biosecurity policymaking that keeps pace with technology development
      • Require a landscape assessment of federal biosecurity authorities, and an evaluation and implementation plan of how to streamline oversight and address gaps
  • SBIR/STTR Reauthorization: Negotiations over a reauthorization measure have again hit an impasse. The primary roadblock remains policy on recipients of multiple SBIR/STTR awards. According to reports, a compromise has been framed to empower individual agencies to set caps on the number of repeat awardees, rather than set blanket caps across the entire program. Notably, the SBIR/STTR Spring Innovation Conference scheduled for March 10-12, that hinges on reauthorization has not yet been cancelled.
  • Hearings: The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on Tuesday, Modernizing the National Institutes of Health: Faster Discoveries, More Cures, which featured NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya as the sole witness. Highlights of the hearing include:
    • Dr. Bhattacharya outlined his priorities in improving transparency, rebuilding public trust in science, supporting new investigators, and ensuring reproducibility of NIH supported work.
    • Multiple Senators expressed concerns about NIH grant terminations and the lack of transparency on award disbursement and reviews, including Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
    • Notably, Dr. Bhattacharya affirmed that there are no studies indicating that vaccines cause autism, amid controversial changes to childhood vaccination schedules and other actions by HHS Secretary Kennedy.
    • Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) who also sits on HELP brought attention to how funding disruptions have impacted studies on womens’ health and health disparities
    • Several Senators criticized the disruption of NIH supported clinical trials, including Appropriations Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) who attempted to get Dr. Bhattacharya to confirm that no further trials would be terminated.
Administration & Agencies:
  • NIH
  • ARPA-H:
    • The agency has undergone a personnel reshuffle. Dr. Rafid Fadul, was announced as the inaugural Chief Medical Officer and will be responsible for bridging the gap between innovations developed with ARPA-H support and patients, providers and payers. Concurrently, the agency has laid off several employees and contractors, including those focused on commercialization activity. Notably, the Project Accelerator Transition Innovation Office (PATIO) has now been renamed as the Office of Commercialization.
  •  FDA
    • The agency has formally launched its PreCheck pilot program designed to bolster domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing, through better regulatory predictability, streamlining of assessments, and facilitating construction of facilities. Requests from companies interested in participating will be accepted until March 1.
    • The agency held a town hall to allay concerns about the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program, that aims to accelerate approvals for drugs aligned with the national interest. Topics discussed centered on allegations of political interference in the decision processes, redirecting of resources to CPNV from other priority work streams, and the substantial size of the program despite its characterization as a pilot.
  • White House, Other HHS Divisions & Departments:
    • TrumpRx: On Friday, the Administration launched its website for discounted drugs. Key highlights:
      • Medications are not directly sold on the site, but are linked to direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms run by individual companies.
      • 43 drugs are currently listed, and including many anti-obesity medications
      • The discounted TrumpRx prices are provided relative to the list price.
      • The discount pricing, is only available for those paying in cash, and cannot accept insurance.
      • Skeptics note that TrumpRx prices in several cases, still exceed what patients with insurance will pay out of pocket.
    • Schedule F: The Administration published a final rule allowing it to reclassify tens of thousands, of federal workers as Schedule F. This has the effect of removing civil service protections against termination. Critics of the policy note that it will have the effect of pressuring agency decision makers to align with political priorities of the Administration, or else risk being fired. Personnel at grant-making institutions like NIH are expected to be disproportionately impacted.
    • 340B: The ongoing legal action between HHS and hospitals over the proposed rebate pilot model, has ceased. This is interpreted as a victory for hospitals, and HHS will now create a new model pilot and issue a new public notice.