The challenge of developing robust measures of patient outcomes – a word from our director
Developing innovative treatments requires a solid scientific understanding of disease and the ability to translate this understanding into meaningful and robust measurements of patient outcomes. Identifying and validating these outcomes is a complex and challenging journey that needs expertise from many different disciplines.
In this month’s newsletter, we get postcards from projects at different stages of this journey. The 3TR project is working to identifying molecular signatures that would allow better and more targeted treatments for lupus, while PaLaDIn is establishing data-driven methods that better measure the daily experience of patients living with rare neuromuscular diseases. Both projects exemplify the painstaking work required to identify and validate new biomarkers and outcome measures – do they meaningfully describe patient improvement? Are they robust enough to be used in a clinical trial of novel treatments?
In the case of arthritis project RTCure, the answer to this last question is ‘yes’ – outcome measures developed by RTCure are now being used in a clinical trial to identify the best administration route for a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.
Niklas Blomberg, IHI Executive Director
In this month’s newsletter, we get postcards from projects at different stages of this journey. The 3TR project is working to identifying molecular signatures that would allow better and more targeted treatments for lupus, while PaLaDIn is establishing data-driven methods that better measure the daily experience of patients living with rare neuromuscular diseases. Both projects exemplify the painstaking work required to identify and validate new biomarkers and outcome measures – do they meaningfully describe patient improvement? Are they robust enough to be used in a clinical trial of novel treatments?
In the case of arthritis project RTCure, the answer to this last question is ‘yes’ – outcome measures developed by RTCure are now being used in a clinical trial to identify the best administration route for a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.
Niklas Blomberg, IHI Executive Director
Sign up for the IHI Call Days
Registration is now open for the IHI Call Days for IHI call 8, which will run online from 17 to 21 June and will feature sessions on all call topics plus our rules and procedures.
Register here
Get ahead of the game – check out the draft topics for call 8
The topics are on tackling heart disease in cities; osteoarthritis and big data; regulatory sandboxes for breakthrough innovations; and clinical study endpoints from digital health technologies.
Get tips on finding partners for your consortium
If you’re thinking of applying to IHI call 8, one of your first tasks will be to find or build an applicant consortium, and to do this, you will need to find partners. Get our tips on how to go about this.
Crossing the bridge – from project to non-profit
Setting up a non-profit association is one way to ensure the sustainability of IMI or IHI project results. PharmaLedger and conect4children share their experiences as they navigate this process.
Read more
RTCure results support new arthritis trial
A new clinical trial testing the best administration route for an experimental arthritis treatment is using outcome measures established by IMI project RTCure to evaluate performance.
Spotting the molecular differences between phases of lupus with 3TR
The 3TR project successfully identified gene expression pathways that could distinguish between people whose lupus was active versus people whose lupus was close to remission.
“Game-changing” new drug combination will save many lives
The IMI-supported EMBLAVEO®, which recently received marketing authorisation, is desperately needed, says an infectious disease expert involved in the IMI-supported Phase III REVISIT trial.
PaLaDIn project puts rare disease patients at centre of data collection platform
The new IHI project’s state-of-the-art platform will help to advance research by driving innovative, real-world data collection from patients with rare neuromuscular diseases.
Sign up for our event on IMI’s impact on antimicrobial resistance
Join us on the afternoon of 31 May for a webinar highlighting the impact that the COMBACTE projects are having on efforts to tackle antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
In conversation with… RTCure – sign up now!
IMI project RTCure has delivered new knowledge and tools for understanding and assessing rheumatoid arthritis. Find out more at our online event on 5 June.
BIO International Convention to feature IHI-led session on rare diseases
The IHI session is entitled ‘Breaking the rare disease deadlock through multi-stakeholder collaboration’ and features high-level experts from both sides of the Atlantic.
Catch up on our event ‘In conversation with EBiSC2’
The recording of the 45-minute event is now online - listen to the recording and hear how EBiSC2 set up a self-sustaining biobank of induced pluripotent stem cells and associated services.