It’s our monthly NIH funding update – and as ever there have been plenty of headlines surrounding science funding this month, so a quick recap before we get into the numbers.
Health Secretary RFK Jr appeared at congressional hearings this month, to face questions from senators on a range of issues relating to health, medicine, and scientific research. On the topic of NIH funding, and the proposed $5bn cut in FY27, RFK acknowledged this is “painful” and outright said “I don’t want to cut NIH programs – but we have a $39 trillion debt” (Forbes news). Senators on both sides strongly disapproved of the cuts, and it’s important to remember here that the last proposed cuts were shut down by congress.
The other, less reported, story in the US science world is the firing of all 22 people on the board which oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF) (The Guardian). While the NSF is a much smaller branch, supporting around 25% of all federally sponsored research (vs ~50% for NIH), this demonstrates the administration’s continued interest in changing US science.
But as ever, we want to look beyond the headlines and see what the data tells us in terms of actual money flowing from NIH to researchers. April 2026 saw $1.69bn funding awarded, vs $1.59bn at this point in Apr 2025.
Figure 1: NIH Funding Awarded by Month Jan 2024 to April 2026
We continue to see the slight increase for 2026 values vs 2025 – with backdated funds bringing February and March up even further than our report last month.
Figure 2: Change in NIH Funding Each Month for FY25 vs FY26 to date
After a slow start in October, every other month this financial year has seen a greater amount awarded vs the year before – so at this point in the year, we’re in a good place.
Figure 3: Cumulative NIH Funding Delta FY25 vs FY26 to date
FY26 to date stands at $5.25bn, vs $4.42bn at this point in FY25 (+18.7%).
Figure 4: Cumulative NIH Funding Delta FY25 vs FY26 October to April
Figure 5: NIH Projects Awarded by Month FY24 – FY26
If we instead look at the number of projects awarded, we can see that despite a slow start and the new policy of greater upfront funding, awards are getting out of the door. FY26 stands at 9,648 awards granted, vs 8,871 at this point in FY25 – a change of +777.
Figure 6: NIH Projects Awarded by Month Delta FY26 vs FY25
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We’ll be back with another update soon.