NIH budget ballooned to ~$45 billion
Despite NIH's budget growing to nearly $45 billion, the cost of drugs is higher than ever, indicating declining returns on science spending.
Snapshot · Moonshots with Peter Diamandis
Michael Kratsios on the New Golden Age of American Science | EP #276
Explore episode
Aug 4, 2026
Where this was said
Why Scientific Productivity Is Declining: Eroom's Law and Institutional Sclerosis
At 32:40 · chapter starts 31:15
The interview pivots to the substantive heart of the Golden Age Report: why, despite record budgets and better tools, is scientific productivity declining? Kratsios traces the problem to institutional inertia — a system designed decades ago that nobody wants to change, especially those who have succeeded within it. [1] — Michael Kratsios "The NIH budget has ballooned to $45 billion yet drugs are more expensive than ever. Researchers spend 45% of their time on grant paperwork.…" 31:30 The data is damning: the NIH budget has swelled to nearly $45 billion yet drugs are more expensive than ever. A National Academies study found researchers spend 45% of their time on grant administration. The median age of an intramural NIH scientist is 71 — while the average age of Nobel-winning scientific work is in a researcher's 20s. The scientific community, Kratsios observes wryly, is perhaps the community least interested in experimenting with new ways of doing science. The irony is not lost on either speaker.
Why Scientific Productivity Is Declining Despite Record Budgets
The NIH budget has ballooned to $45 billion yet drugs are more expensive than ever. Researchers spend 45% of their time on grant paperwork. The median intramural NIH scientist is 71. Kratsios argues the problem isn't money — it's that the scientific enterprise refuses to experiment on itself.
45% of researcher time is administrative
A National Academies study found that researchers spend 45% of their time on administrative grant-related work rather than actual science.
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