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  • STAT+: The Ig Nobel Prizes, long held in the U.S., head to Europe due to Trump policies

    STAT+: The Ig Nobel Prizes, long held in the U.S., head to Europe due to Trump policies

    By Allyson Chiu — Boston Globe

    Sept. 2, 2026

    It usually takes 10 minutes for Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, to walk from his home in Cambridge, Mass., to the annual award ceremony — a world-renowned spectacle celebrating quirky scientific achievements.

    But this year, Abrahams’s trip involves an international flight.

    For the first time since the awards — a satirical version of the Nobel prizes — were created in 1991, the ceremony, which takes place Thursday and draws hundreds of scientists and journalists from around the world, is not being held in Cambridge or Boston. Organizers said they decided to move the event to Zurich, Switzerland, due to concerns that many international participants, including award winners, would not feel comfortable or be able to come to the United States amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and upending of science.

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  • STAT+: House votes to temporarily block Trump plan to politicize federal grants

    STAT+: House votes to temporarily block Trump plan to politicize federal grants

    Research policy was included in must-pass government funding bill

    Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    John writes about the politics of health care, and he is the author of the twice-weekly D.C. Diagnosis newsletter. You can reach John on Signal at John_Wilkerson.07.

    Anil Oza is a general assignment reporter at STAT focused on the NIH and health equity. You can reach him on Signal at aniloza.16.

    WASHINGTON — The House voted Tuesday to pass a stopgap government-funding bill that temporarily blocks the White House’s proposal to give political appointees more control over federal research grants.

    The vote was 370-48 in favor. The Senate passed the same bill a month ago, so it now goes to the president for his signature. 

    The reprieve is brief. The bill funds the government until Dec. 11 to get past the midterm elections without a government shutdown, and the ban on the research-funding policy expires at the same time.

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    1. John writes about the politics of health care, and he is the author of the twice-weekly D.C. Diagnosis newsletter. You can reach John on Signal at John_Wilkerson.07.

    2. General Assignment Reporter

      Anil Oza is a general assignment reporter at STAT focused on the NIH and health equity. You can reach him on Signal at aniloza.16.

  • STAT+: Will House delay Trump plan to politicize NIH grants? 

    STAT+: Will House delay Trump plan to politicize NIH grants? 

    You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

    A New York bar sells a spritz in a Hermès-esque glass purse, while in Baltimore you can get a spritz made with Miller High Life beer. Way to keep it real, guys. Send news tips and your favorite cocktail of the Deadliest Drug to [email protected] or John_Wilkerson.07 on Signal.

    The need-to-know this week

    • The House returns for one week and will vote on the Senate’s stopgap funding bill that temporarily blocks the White House’s proposal to give political appointees control over federal research grants. The House will use a fast-track process that requires two-thirds support for passage, signaling that House GOP leadership believes the Senate bill will pass. The House vote is expected Tuesday evening, according to Punchbowl News. Were it to fail, lawmakers would have to wait until the Senate returns on Sept. 14 to work out differences between the two chambers’ bills.
    • Congressional Medicare advisers kick off their annual public meeting cycle on Thursday. This cycle, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission will analyze the Part D benefit redesign. The redesign reduced cost sharing for beneficiaries and gave insurers more reason to manage costs, but it has probably also contributed to more spending. MedPAC also will study clinician quality measurements, and commissioners will continue their work on Medicare Advantage.

    Nine, or 10, more MFN deals

    President Trump announced nine more deals to set drug prices in Medicaid on par with prices available in peer countries, Daniel Payne and Elaine Chen report. But it seems they missed one.

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  • STAT+: NIH proposal to cap research grants draws mixed reception, agency says

    STAT+: NIH proposal to cap research grants draws mixed reception, agency says

    By Anil Oza

    Sept. 1, 2026

    General Assignment Reporter

    Under the Trump administration, competition for government funding for biomedical research has reached new heights. In June, the National Institutes of Health proposed one solution: limiting the number of grants each individual scientist can have at a given moment. 

    The agency recently released the anonymized 3,307 responses to its call for feedback, and it appears the proposal has drawn more mixed reactions than earlier such proposals. The NIH estimates that 40% of the responses opposed the proposal, 27% supported the idea of a cap, and 32% were mixed. 

    In a post on its site, the agency said it hopes a cap could “contribute to a more balanced research portfolio, advancing stewardship, workforce sustainability, and the goals of the NIH Unified Funding Strategy.” But even some experts who agree with the spirit of the proposal worry that it could be another source of disruption for researchers in what has been a tumultuous time; some also argue that a straight cap on the number of grants may be too simplistic. 

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  • STAT+: After a rough stretch, mRNA gets a boost — at least for now

    STAT+: After a rough stretch, mRNA gets a boost — at least for now

    Angus reports on the basic research, clinical science, and drug development that may transform survival and quality of life for patients, as well as developments affecting the cancer community. You can reach Angus on Signal at angus.08.

    The mRNA technology that built Moderna and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccines and is now being used to build cancer vaccines has been through political whiplash. But now, with clinical success from Moderna and Merck on using a personalized mRNA vaccine for melanoma, experts are hoping for a more stable future for the field. 

    “I don’t know how this will be received among parts of our society that have become suspicious of the word ‘vaccine.’ There’s a possibility that people will say, ‘Oh, if we can vaccinate against cancer, that’s good,’” said Ryan Sullivan, a Mass General Brigham melanoma physician and immunologist who has worked with Moderna. “Maybe that will thaw some of the stigma around vaccines. I don’t think it’ll fix all of it, but maybe just a little bit helps us think of ‘vaccine’ not as a dirty word, ‘mRNA’ as not a four-letter word.”

    mRNA technology allows scientists to instruct cells to construct practically any protein or protein pieces by simply rewriting the mRNA’s genetic code. That is one of the technology’s greatest strengths, and what made it possible for scientists to develop Covid vaccines in under a year. It was also possible in part thanks to Operation Warp Speed, which helped fund and push the vaccine’s development. President Trump still calls it a “monumental national achievement” of his first term. 

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  • A new chapter for the Advisory Group for Data

    Dr Jon Fistein reflects on the current position and future direction of NHS England’s Advisory Group for Data.

    Having been appointed Chair of NHS England’s Advisory Group for Data (AGD) earlier this year, and now beginning to settle into the role, this feels like the right moment to set out where we are and where I think we need to be. AGD provides NHS England with expert advice and assurance on how patient data is accessed and used. We exist because the public expects, and deserves, careful and visible scrutiny of how that is done.

  • Keeping research data safe: safe people and safe organisations

    Sally Stewart, Programme Director, North West Secure Data Environment, reflects on the importance of public trust when health data is used for research, and how a focus on security and transparency shapes the work of the NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network, including its newly launched Registration Service.  

  • Chemo drug supply crisis hits cancer care

    Chemo drug supply crisis hits cancer care

    Hospitals are reporting dwindling stocks, while patients and their families are being forced to hunt for pharmacies and distributors which have the drugs with them.

  • The NHS App, from digital front door to lifelong companion

    Liz and Rachel set out the NHS App’s journey from digital front door to lifelong companion – meeting people where they are, at home and on demand.
     

    Based on their joint presentation at Digital Health Rewired in spring 2026.
     

  • PubMed Update: New & Noteworthy RSS Feed Has a New URL

    PubMed Update: New & Noteworthy RSS Feed Has a New URL

    PubMed Update: New & Noteworthy RSS Feed Has a New URL. NLM Tech Bull. 2026 Mar-Apr;(469):e2.

    April 16, 2026 [posted]

    PubMed’s New & Noteworthy RSS feed provides another way to stay up to date with the latest news published in the NLM Technical Bulletin for PubMed.

    This RSS feed URL is changing, as the feed will now be generated directly from the Technical Bulletin, filtered for articles related to PubMed. 

    If you are a current subscriber of the PubMed New & Noteworthy RSS feed, no action is necessary: the current URL will be redirected to the new URL for a seamless transition. However, both URLs are provided below in the rare event your RSS feed reader encounters any issues with the redirect:

    Old PubMed New & Noteworthy RSS feed URL:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/feed/rss.cgi?ChanKey=PubMedNews 

    New PubMed Technical Bulletin RSS feed URL: 
    https://www.nlm.nih.gov/rss/auto/PubMedNews.rss 

    To become a new subscriber of the PubMed RSS feed, copy the new RSS feed URL above and use this link with your preferred feed reader or other application.

    This change does not affect RSS feeds created for PubMed searches. 

    More ways to stay up to date with PubMed: