Trump administration shares updated NIH budget details

The White House has released an updated 2026 budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services, outlining more detailed reorganization plans, including budget cuts and restructuring of the National Institutes of Health.

The proposed budget includes $27.9 billion for the NIH on the program level, representing a $18.1 billion reduction from 2025. This, according to the proposal, will enable the NIH to “focus on essential research at a more practical cost and invest insecurity infrastructure.”

The brief also outlined a proposed restructuring that consolidates NIH’s 27 institutes and centers into eight. “This restructuring will create efficiencies within NIH that will allow the agency to focus on true science, and coordinate research to make the best use of federal funds,” according to the budget in brief document.

Documents shared by NIH outline the budget’s potential impact on research grants, a core function of the agency, indicating that research funding would be slashed by over 40%.

Industry groups and institutions continue to respond with concern, noting that cuts to the NIH — the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world — could have serious repercussions.

According to the American Society of Hematology (ASH), federal funding of the NIH has enabled the development of gene therapies for sickle cell disease and CAR-T cell therapies for blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. These cutting-edge therapies have redefined the treatment landscape in hematology and spurred critical advancements across other fields of medicine.

“This budget proposal is misguided and dangerous. This drastic, unilateral reduction would undermine the biomedical research enterprise, stall progress toward life-saving cures, and imperil the health of millions of Americans living with blood disorders,” said Belinda Avalos, MD, president of ASH, in a statement.

The budget can’t be enacted without the support of Congress.