Biden Medical Research Agenda Favors New Agency Over Basics (1)

The Biden administration’s biomedical innovation budget proposal offers largely flat funding for basic research in favor of a big-ticket new agency focused on medical breakthroughs.

The National Institutes of Health’s total budget would grow to about $62 billion in fiscal 2023 under the president’s request released Monday, about $20 billion more than it’s had over the last few years. However, $12 billion of that money is designated for part of a larger mandatory pandemic preparedness package.

Separately, the White House wants to designate $5 billion in discretionary funds toward the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H. It’s ...