Jay Bhattacharya's Human-Based Research (NAMs) Five-Initiative Package
Advancing
On September 21, 2026, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced what the agency called its biggest push yet to move biomedical research beyond animal-model use: a package of five initiatives to advance human-based research, also known as New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). According to the NIH news release, the package includes more than $88 million in Biomedical Research Facilities Program funding across 10 construction projects in nine states; a $7 million-plus challenge for quantum-enabled measurement in lab-based NAMs; a new automated laboratory at the NIH Clinical Center combining standardized human organoids, robotics, AI, and advanced data systems; recruitment of grant reviewers with expertise in human-based science; and a request for information on the feasibility of an annual public report tracking vertebrate-animal use in NIH-funded research.
Bhattacharya framed the shift as a tools-and-translation story rather than purely an animal-welfare one. “The goal,” he said in the announcement, “is to give researchers better tools to understand human disease and translate discoveries into treatments that improve patients’ lives.” A companion HHS announcement noted that NIH closed its last intramural beagle laboratory and now allows grant funds to be used to retire or rehome research animals — a policy change that animal-welfare advocates had long sought.
Reaction from the research community split along familiar lines. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the National Anti-Vivisection Society praised the package as “meaningful steps” toward what NAVS called “the scientific system we need next.” Medical Daily, meanwhile, noted that the NIH announcement did not name individual awardees or break down the funding by state, leaving the distribution of the $88 million-plus unclear at launch.
Timeline
- September 21, 2026: NIH announces the five-initiative NAMs package; HHS issues a companion announcement on accelerating human-based research and reducing animal testing.
- September 2026: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and NAVS publicly praise the shift as meaningful steps toward human-based science.
- September 2026: Medical Daily reports that the announcement names no individual awardees and provides no state-by-state funding breakdown.
