Support letter for FY 2027 NIAID funding

Dear Chairs Capito and Aderholdt and Ranking Members Baldwin and DeLauro,

We, the 66 undersigned organizations representing public health, patients and biomedical researchers request at least $7.15 billion for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and at least $51.303 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) overall for fiscal year (FY) 2027, representing an 8.7% increase over FY2026 levels. This funding is critical to ensure that the nation can respond to current and future disease threats.

NIAID has a unique mandate to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. The Institute plays an essential role in addressing the impacts of allergy and asthma on human well-being and infectious threats such as pneumonia, norovirus, Lyme disease, tuberculosis, pandemic influenza, and Valley fever. NIAID-funded researchers are working toward eliminating some of the world’s most serious health threats, including antimicrobial resistance. NIAID-funded research has fueled some of the biggest public health success stories in recent decades, such as the transformation of HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable, chronic condition thanks to the development of

antiretroviral agents and the development of treatments, vaccines and diagnostics for RSV, tuberculosis, Ebola, type 1 Diabetes, malaria and more. Additionally, NIAID funding is critical to training the public health workforce. Students in NIAID-funded training programs and laboratories go on to work in public health agencies, clinical settings, academic research, and industry.

Thanks to long-term and sustained support from Congress for NIAID over the years, the U.S. has achieved major victories over deadly, disabling, and costly diseases.

These achievements include, but are not limited to:

• Scientists developed new technologies to identify geographic hot spots for Aedes mosquitoes —a type of mosquito that can spread diseases such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. The tool is poised to deliver targeted interventions to fight dengue and other diseases in the U.S. and communities across the globe.
• NIAID-funded research has identified treatment that substantially increases the amount of peanut, tree nuts, egg, milk and wheat that multi-food allergic children as young as 1 year could consume without potentially fatal allergic reaction, as research is ongoing in prevention of the development of food allergy in infancy. Currently 8% of children in the U.S. have a food allergy, or 2 in every classroom. NIAID is also sponsoring clinical trials to understand how maternal consumption of peanuts and eggs during pregnancy and breastfeeding prevents babies from developing allergies.
• A clinical trial funded through NIAID found that the monoclonal antibody mepolizumab reduced asthma attacks by more than 25% in children and adolescents with severe asthma. Asthma affects 1 in 13 Americans, including 20 million adults and over 5 million children.
• NIAID-funded research spurred the development of the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This treatment will help to prevent an estimated 160,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths of older adults in the U.S. and is projected to save up to $4 billion in health care costs.
• NIAID researchers discovered a new species of bacteria in the gut that may trigger rheumatoid arthritis (RA), offering new avenues for treatment and prevention. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from 1 or more autoimmune diseases, including 1.3 million adults with rheumatoid arthritis.
• Each year, drug-resistant infections impact more than 3 million Americans, killing at least 50,000 people in the U.S. NIAID-funded research is essential to combating drug resistance and developing new medicines for drug-resistant infectious threats. It is projected that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could become the leading cause of death globally by 2050. Currently, treating the six most common antibiotic resistance threats costs the U.S. more than $4.6 billion annually.

We strongly urge you and your colleagues to work together on FY2027 funding bills and to ensure strong funding for the life-saving work of NIAID so that American ingenuity can continue to forge a healthier, safer and more equitable world for all. Please reach out to Nicole Zimmerman (nzimmerman@asmusa.org) at the American Society for Microbiology if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

AIDS Action Baltimore

AIDS Foundation Chicago

Alpha-gal Alliance Action Fund

American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)

American Association of Immunologists

American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges

American Institute of Biological Sciences

American Psychological Association Services

American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)

American Society for Microbiology

American Society for Virology

American Society of Nephrology

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

American Thoracic Society

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research

APLA Health

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Autoimmune Association

AVAC

Benaroya Research Institute

Boston University Clear Labs

Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, North America

Dysautonomia International

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research

Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC)

HealthHIV

HIV Medicine Association

IAVI

Infectious Disease Society of America

International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD)

La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Latino Commission on AIDS

Lupus Foundation of America

Lupus Research Alliance

MEAction

Monell Chemical Senses Center

National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR)

National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition

National Eczema Association

NMAC

Open Medicine Foundation

Patient-Led Research Collaborative

Peggy Lillis Foundation

Penn State Health/ Penn State College of Medicine

PrEP4All

Research!America

San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Save HIV Funding Campaign

Sepsis Alliance

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Society for Public Health Education

Society of Toxicology Solve M.E.

TB Alliance

Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute

The Cytokine Society

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB)

Treatment Action Group

University of Maryland, Baltimore

Washington State University