Mayor Wu files amicus brief with 40 mayors as NIH funding case returns to court

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has co-led a large group of city leaders from across the country in filing an amicus brief in the federal lawsuits aimed at halting the Trump administration's cuts to National Institutes of Health research funding.

The case brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 21 other states returns to federal court in Boston on Friday morning. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley had issued a temporary pause to the NIH cuts; Campbell and the other plaintiffs want a permanent injunction.

In a press release Thursday, Wu said, "We join with cities across the country — in red states, purple states, and blue states — to stop this illegal action that will cause layoffs, lab closures, and undermine scientific progress in American cities.”

Wu said the federal funding cuts could hinder medical breakthroughs in critical areas like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

She was joined in the brief by officials from over 40 cities, in Democratic- and Republican-leaning states, that are home to hospitals and other research centers. The mayors of San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis and Cleveland participated, among many others.

The legal battle started after the NIH announced a sudden reduction in funding for scientific and medical research centers earlier this month.

The bulk of medical research in the United States is funded by the NIH. The proposed cuts would slash funding for indirect or overhead expenses that researchers say are essential for their work. These expenses include funding for utilities, office space and administrative assistants. A cap of 15% would be well below what some universities receive, including Harvard, whose rate for indirect expenses was 69% last year.

Some argue the cuts would result in funding far below what's required to perform trailblazing medical research.

Dr. Jehan Alladina is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital whose research is supported by an NIH grant. She said she’s glad to see Wu take a stand against the Trump administration’s actions.

“The series of attacks on medical research has not been limited to these proposed cuts on funding, but also extends to censoring the content of research,” Alladina said. “This has already led to what I can only assume is the intended consequence of disrupting our research infrastructure and, inevitably, will harm patients.”