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NIH names Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network

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The National Institute of Health has awarded grants to 11 research groups in the United States to establish the Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network.

The NIH Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Program (AMP RA/Lupus) is a public-private partnership developed to alter the current model for the identification and validation of the most promising biological targets for the development of new drugs and diagnostics with $6 million donated in the first year.

“These awards represent the first phases of an unprecedented approach to identify pathways that are critical to disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and lupus. Insights gained from this effort hold the promise of enhancing quality of life for patients and family members affected by these and other devastating autoimmune diseases,” Francis S. Collins, MD, NIH director, stated in a press release.

Over 5 years, the AMP RA/Lupus Network will analyze the interplay among biological pathways, including at the single cell level, in tissues of patients with RA and lupus. The goal is to integrate data from multiple genome-wide analytic approaches to generate a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of tissue damage in RA and lupus.

“This program promises to lead to more diagnosis and treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. We also anticipate that the flexibility of the program will enable investigators to advance research on related diseases, thus improving our overall understanding of autoimmunity,” Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, stated in the release.

Funding is provided by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, the Arthritis Foundation, the Lupus Foundation of America, the Lupus Research Institute/Alliance for Lupus Research and the Rheumatology Research Foundation.

The AMP RA/Lupus Network is comprised of the AMP RA/Lupus Network Leadership Center with Paul J. Utz, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., and V. Michael Holers, University of Colorado, Denver.

The AMP RA/Lupus Network research sites are:

• Jennifer H. Anolik, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.;
• Michael B. Brenner and Soumya Raychaudhuri, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston;
• Jill P. Buyon, New York University School of Medicine, and Chaim Putterman, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Thomas Tuschl, Rockefeller University, New York City;
• Vivian Bykerk, Lionel B. Ivashkiv and Alessandra B. Pernis, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Robert B. Darnell, New York Genome Center, New York City;
• Betty A. Diamond, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, N.Y., and David Wofsy, University of California, San Francisco;
• Peter K. Gregersen, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, N.Y.;
• V. Michael Holers, University of Colorado, Denver;
• Larry W. Moreland, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh;
• Michelle A. Petri, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and
• William H. Robinson and Paul J. Utz, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.;

 “To date, treatments for RA and lupus have been aimed at decreasing inflammation and pain. For the first time, we are bringing together multidisciplinary research teams to achieve a broad, systems-level understanding of these diseases, setting the stage for the development of more effective diagnostic and treatment approaches,” Stephen I. Katz, MD, director of NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, stated in the release.

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