Spending bill boosts NIH, FDA

An omnibus spending agreement and a separate tax bill released Tuesday night would increase budgets at NIH and FDA, make the R&D tax credit permanent, and give manufacturers a two-year reprieve from the medical device tax. Congress is expected to approve the bills this week. The White House released a statement praising the spending bill, which would fund the federal government through September 2016.

NIH's budget is set to increase by $2 billion to $32 billion, which is $1 billion more than President Obama's budget request. Congress dedicated $350 million of the increase to research on Alzheimer's disease, $200 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative and $85 million to increase funding for the BRAIN initiative. ...