New research partnerships bring new opportunities

[PRESS INVITATION 04/27/2015] Patients and the general public are now involved in funding research in a completely different way than in the past and new forms of cooperation between universities, the health service, industry, patients and charities are emerging. Researchers get closer to patients with new technologies that have been developed in order to study diseases and new treatments based on these new ways of working are already appearing. Karolinska Institutet is the venue for a conference at which representatives of patients and organisations, researchers and industry are meeting to discuss the recipes for success.

Journalists are welcome to attend the conference and interview the participants.
Conference: Days of Molecular Medicine
Time: 7–8 May 2015
Location: Aula Medica, Nobels väg 6, Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna

University-based research has traditionally been funded through central government grants, with the pharmaceutical industry coming in and taking over when researchers find a promising mechanism or substance in order to develop this into a new treatment. However, this is now changing rapidly. The large pharmaceutical companies are decreasing their own research and seek collaborations directly with academia at earlier stages in the pharmaceutical research. Patients or their family members who do not want to wait for new medicines are increasingly taking matters into their own hands and are starting own funds or fund-raising foundations. Charities are also gaining increasing influence in research as the public are donating more often and larger amounts to fund research. All in all, this leads to entirely new partnerships in research between universities, patient representatives and activists, the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and, not least, the health service, where the patients are being cared for.

Meanwhile, another clear trend is for the methods currently being developed increasingly allow research to be carried out directly on humans. Examples of this are stem cell technology, genetic studies and new imaging technologies.

"Researchers now have to step out of their comfort zones. A greater proportion of research must be targeted directly at humans, rather than rats and mice. Researchers are coming closer to patients and are therefore gaining a greater understanding of how diseases work in humans", says Kenneth Chien, professor at Karolinska Institutet, and one of the organisers of the conference.

These new forms of partnerships have already resulted in new treatments. One example is cystic fibrosis, a disease in which the body's mucous membranes produce sticky, viscous mucus that can, for example, make breathing more difficult. When the pharmaceutical industry did not want to fund the research, a foundation raised the money required to develop a new treatment. This investment was so successful that it resulted not only in a new medicine, but also in income for the foundation. Frank Accurso from the University of Colorado is one of the researchers behind this and he will be present at the conference.

Chris Hempel is the mother of twins who have a disease that results in them developing dementia in childhood. She will talk about how she first started a foundation, which has since led to a new biotechnology company.

You can also listen to Susan Solomon, mother of a child with diabetes, who started a foundation with the goal of quickly developing new treatments based on stem cell research. The New York Stem Cell Foundation has now raised over USD 100 million.

The list of speakers also includes senior managers from several pharmaceutical companies. In addition, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of medical journal The Lancet, who will lecturing on how new research partnerships can have an impact on global health. One such example can be found in Africa where heart disease has become more common. Karen Sliwa from the University of Cape Town has worked on a successful project in this area.

Immunotherapy is a way to treat disease with the help of immunological methods and the research can be conducted directly on humans. Noelle Frey from the University of Pennsylvania is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of immunotherapy in cancer.

And don't miss Eric Reiman from the University of Arizona who is researching preventive treatments for Alzheimer's disease. This research is based on knowledge about patients, in this case families in which genetic abnormalities result in many members of those families developing the disease early in life.

This and many more success stories will be discussed at the conference.

For the full programme, see: http://conference.ki.se/dmm/ 

If you have any questions, please contact:
Professor Kenneth Chien
Department of Medicine, Huddinge
Tel: +46 (0)70-785 93 65
E-mail: kenneth.chien@ki.se 

Press Officer Sabina Bossi
Tel: +46 (0)8-524 860 66 or +46 (0)70-614 60 66
E-mail: sabina.bossi@ki.se

Contact the Press Office: ki.se/pressroom

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Its vision is to significantly contribute to the improvement of human health. Karolinska Institutet accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country´s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

Tags: