Dulwich Doctor Wins Major Funding for Arthritis Research
A DULWICH doctor has been awarded funding of more than £425,000 from a leading medical research charity for his work aimed at easing the pain of arthritis and rheumatic disease.
The Arthritis Research Campaign has awarded Dr Ernest Choy, a senior lecturer in the rheumatology department at Kings College Hospital in Dulwich, two major research grants.
With the first, Dr Choy and his team will set up a clinical trial of almost 100 patients to test the effectiveness of different drug treatments in the rheumatic condition of inflammatory myositis.
Inflammatory myositis is the name given to a group of diseases that cause inflammation in the muscles of the body; causing pain and weakness. Many patients become disabled as a result of damage to the muscles, and in severe cases, muscles of the face and heart are affected and can lead to death.
"Steroids are the main treatment for the condition, but in many patients they do not suppress inflammation completely and can have often serious side-effects," said Dr Choy. "We are going to try other drugs which are used in other inflammatory conditions, and which have been shown in preliminary studies to possibly have an effect in inflammatory myositis. If they are effective, they will reduce pain, improve function and allow a reduction in the dose of steroids."
Patients from London, Manchester and Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle will take part in the one-year trial.
With his second grant, Dr Choy hopes to develop a new way of improving and cutting down the costs involved in running clinical trials, by introducing a method of patient self-assessment. "The existing method of running trials requires a nurse to assess patients and if it's a big nationwide trial the costs are astronomical," said Dr Choy. " If patient-based assessment is shown to work as well, we have a a good, cheaper method for the future."
Around 400 patients with rheumatoid arthritis living in south London will take part in the second clinical trial.
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fifth biggest medical research charity in the UK and in the past 12 months spent £21m on research in academic institutions around the country. It relies entirely on public donations to fund its programme.
