Health - Friday, April 3, 2026

The White House is asking Congress to cut $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and downsize the number of institutes and centers from 27 to 22

Congress largely ignored President Trump's previous budget proposal, instead boosting federal health spending.

From new hires to departures, promotions and transfers, here are the latest comings and goings in the pharmaceutical industry.

A new clinical trial suggests that what people eat could finally offer real relief for Crohn’s disease, a condition that has long lacked clear dietary guidance. Researchers found that a “fasting-mimicking diet” — involving just five days a month of very low-calorie, plant-based meals — led to noticeable improvements in symptoms for most participants. Even more striking, the diet didn’t just make patients feel better; it also reduced key biological markers of inflammation linked to the disease.

Smaller biotechs move to negotiate with White House, medicine's trust gap, and other biotech news from The Readout

The Trump administration announced 100% tariffs on imported brand-name drugs, but with significant caveats

Implications of SCOTUS' conversion therapy ruling, Trump hikes drug tariffs, and more Morning Rounds updates

A new gene therapy is giving people born deaf the chance to hear, often within just weeks. In a small but groundbreaking study, researchers delivered a working copy of a key hearing gene directly into the inner ear using a single injection. All ten patients, ranging from young children to adults, experienced improved hearing, with some showing rapid gains in just one month.

A newly identified gene mutation may help explain why schizophrenia patients struggle to update their understanding of reality. The mutation disrupts a brain circuit involved in flexible decision-making, causing mice to stick with outdated choices even when conditions change. Researchers pinpointed the issue to a key thalamus–prefrontal cortex pathway. By reactivating this circuit, they were able to restore normal behavior—raising hope for future therapies.

A new study reveals that aging lungs may play a major role in why flu and COVID can become so dangerous for older adults. Researchers found that certain lung cells can trigger an exaggerated immune response, creating clusters of inflammatory cells that end up damaging lung tissue instead of protecting it. In experiments, activating this aging-related signal in young mice caused their lungs to behave like older ones, leading to severe illness.