Update on Accelerating Medicines Partnership

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The Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) was launched in 2014 as a public-private partnership to spur development of new therapeutic options for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Five years in, this unprecedented public-private effort is achieving its major milestones and yielding tools to accelerate potential new drug discoveries. The Rheumatology Research Foundation is a leading partner of the AMP RA/SLE program.

The program is working to define biological pathways with the goals of identifying biomarkers to predict pathological processes that lead to organ damage, and identifying potential new pathways or targets for drug development and intervention. The collaborative effort has made significant progress in ascertaining and defining biological pathways that link relevant molecular targets to clinical outcomes. Most notably, the AMP has created new technology standards for studying the cells responsible for RA and lupus.

“We are proud to be a partner of the AMP program and are thrilled with the discoveries already made through this collaboration. These advancements hold clues for potential research targets that may lead to future treatment options for millions of patients, and that’s critical to our mission of improving the health of everyone living with a rheumatic disease,” says Mary Wheatley, executive director of the Foundation.

The program is a pre-competitive partnership with the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), industry and not-for-profit organizations. Within the context of the partnership, the Foundation was actively involved in designing a bold, milestone-driven research plan and continues to share resources and expertise.

Currently in phase 2, the program is working to provide more information on how biological components correlate to disease activity and treatment responses. Visit www.NIH.gov for more information about the AMP RA/SLE program.