National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cuts Endanger Biotech Breakthroughs

NIH will receive $35 million less in 2006 than it did last year. Those cuts will be especially painful for biomedicine, Techology Review reports today. The budget effectively moves the agency back to 2003 funding levels, with the result that only one out of 10 grant proposals will be funded, versus three out of 10 in '03. While the agency is slated for a five percent increase in '07, no one really knows how much will be slated until the budget comes out later this week.