Industry observers called 2025 a year of regulatory turbulence in the U.S., with leadership changes, policy shifts and contested directives creating uncertainty for grantmakers, regulators and companies. A year‑end assessment described the period as one of 'chaotic uncertainty' for life sciences policy. In a related legal development, the NIH agreed to reassess hundreds of stalled grant applications that had been paused under controversial diversity‑related directives, a court‑overseen step that reopens the review pipeline pending further litigation.