Lawmakers and NIH seek to revive massive children’s study

House and Senate committees have voted to fund a new version of the National Children’s Study, which the National Institutes of Health shut down in 2014 after spending $1.2 billion trying to get it started.

Both chambers’ appropriations committees approved bills with $165 million for an NCS alternative in 2016. Each said the NIH needs to set up a scientific advisory committee to guide the new study.

The NIH has reportedly begun working on a plan to restart the research, requesting nearly $160m in its 2016 request to fund a new version of the program.