2026 policy outlook: Reaping what was sown in 2025

Life sciences leaders who believe last year’s high-velocity policy turmoil is receding will be disappointed in 2026. While bouts of chaos will continue, they are almost a distraction from changes that are undermining the pillars of biomedical innovation in the United States.

The greatest risk to the U.S. biomedical innovation ecosystem in 2026 is not volatility, but the normalization of political and ideological influences on science-based regulation and research funding, coupled with arbitrary, populist drug pricing policies...