After a months‑long lapse, Congress passed reauthorization of SBIR and STTR programs, restoring critical federal seed funding for small biotech companies. The bipartisan vote clears five years of funding and reopened grant pipelines at agencies including NIH, which BIO and industry groups had flagged as essential for early‑stage translational work. BIO’s leadership and company stakeholders noted that SBIR/STTR fuels startup formation, supports translational milestones and underpins a meaningful fraction of FDA‑approved drugs’ origins. The reauthorization follows unanimous Senate support and strong House passage, and agencies have signaled plans to restart solicitations and grant awards. For companies reliant on non‑dilutive capital, the decision reduces near‑term funding risk and will accelerate translational projects—particularly for platform technologies, diagnostics and early therapeutic prototypes that struggle to attract private investment at the preclinical stage.