NIH tightens its peer review against foreign threats

Scrutiny will focus on particularly lucrative or sensitive project proposals

The National Institutes of Health, the United States’ main public biomedical research funder, has agreed to do more to protect the confidentiality of its peer review processes.

In a report published on 31 March, the Department of Health and Human Services’ deputy inspector general, Suzanne Murrin, said the NIH should focus its scrutiny on “highly lucrative” or “particularly sensitive” research proposals.