Doctors awarded international prize for research leading to new treatment in rheumatoid arthritis
Professor Ravinder Maini
Professor Marc Feldmann
Two leading UK doctors have been awarded the prestigious Crafoord Prize for their groundbreaking work in developing new therapies for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Professors Ravinder Maini and Marc Feldmann are both based at the Arthritis Research Campaign's flagship institute the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology, in west London. The Kennedy will merge with Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine on August 1 2000.
The Crafoord Prize is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for research in areas not covered by the Nobel prizes, which the academy also awards. The prize consists of a gold medal to each prize-winner and $500,000 (approximately £300,000) to be divided between them. It will be awarded on September 18 2000 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences by the King of Sweden.
This is the first time since the Crafoord Prize was instituted in 1982 that the Royal Academy has awarded the prize in the field of polyarthritis.
The citation for the awards reads: "for their identification of TNF blockade as an effective therapeutic principle in rheumatoid arthritis".
Professor Maini - the director of the Kennedy Institute since 1990 – a clinical rheumatologist, and Professor Feldmann, a basic research immunologist, have been working together on anti-TNF (tumour necrosis factor) therapies since the mid 1980s. They focused on the role played by the various signal molecules, the cytokines, in regulating rheumatoid arthritis.
Their hypothesis developed from pre-clinical research was proven by clinical trials which demonstrated that it was possible to treat rheumatoid arthritis by using specific inhibitors to block the action of TNF.
Extensive clinical trials were undertaken which showed that blocking the activity of TNF not only had a very good effect on joint inflammation in a large majority of patients, but could also delay joint destruction.
As a result of the successful trials, two different drugs which block TNF have already gained licences in the US for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and are expected to be approved for use in the UK and Europe this spring.
The doctors' research is a prime example of how innovative work by researchers who have combined basic research and clinical application have rapidly transferred findings from basic molecular research to new effective treatment.
