Rheumatoid Arthritis – Biomarkers and Other New Advances in Drug Development

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a complex and heterogeneous disease that has the potential to significantly impact morbidity, mortality and quality of life while also placing a substantial burden on healthcare systems globally. While scientific advances have led to a better understanding of the disease and new targets and pathways for developing novel and potentially more effective Rheumatoid Arthritis treatments, there remain significant unmet needs.

At the clinical level, Rheumatoid Arthritis management typically consists of a series of empiric, non-evidence-based decisions in terms of initial and subsequent drug choices. It is challenging for physicians to identify patients early in the disease process and monitor treatment effectiveness and disease progression with current guidelines and currently available tools. Further compounding the equation is that radiographic progression rates in clinical trials are very small, even in the placebo arms. As a result, showing superiority of new treatments, at least in terms of damage progression, is more difficult now than it has ever been.

Given large sales in the category and the ongoing necessity for new, more effective and sustainable Rheumatoid Arthritis therapies, interest in developing compounds remains high, along with the need to more efficiently conduct clinical trials and better demonstrate value to key stakeholder groups.

This webinar is intended to help Rheumatoid Arthritis drug developers explore:

• A near-term future involving more personalized approaches to Rheumatoid Arthritis drug development
• The discovery and utilization of new biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction
• Moving from inhibiting radiographic progression toward maintaining structural integrity and the role of MRI in clinical trial design and execution
• Critical next steps that could improve your company’s probability of successfully developing and commercializing new Rheumatoid Arthritis treatments

Speakers

Prof. Iain B. McInnes, Muirhead Professor of Medicine, Director of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, UK

Professor McInnes leads a trials unit specialising in the use of biologic agents in early clinical trials in inflammatory arthritis. He has published widely in the areas of immunobiology and rheumatology and is an Associate Editor of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, and member of the Editorial Board of European Journal of Immunology. His research interests include understanding the role of cytokines in inflammatory synovitis. In 2001, Professor McInnes received the Michael Mason Prize from the British Society for Rheumatology and has also received a multitude of distinguished lectureships from organizations in the U.K., Canada, Germany, Sweden and the U.S. Previously Chairman of the EULAR Scientific Committee, he is now Liaison Officer to the American College of Rheumatology for The European League Against Rheumatism. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and at the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr. McInnes studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and trained in internal medicine and rheumatology. He completed his membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 1992 and became a fellow in 2003. He completed his PhD and post-doctoral studies via fellowships from the Wellcome Trust, the Arthritis Research Campaign, and the NIH Fogarty Fellowship Programme.

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Mary Katherine (MK) Farmer, MD, Senior Medical Director & Rheumatology Therapeutic Strategy Lead, Quintiles

Dr. Farmer advises customers on studies and programs in rheumatologic disease and related conditions. She also provides therapeutic strategy, due diligence and business planning for potential partnerships with sponsors. Dr. Farmer’s special areas of interest include patient-reported outcomes, biomarkers in RA and lupus, disease scales and quality of life as well as maintenance of function. Dr. Farmer has extensive experience conducting clinical trials and as a treating physician. She has published on a variety of topics and authored the lupus chapter of a popular internal medicine textbook. Her research on lupus nephritis was presented at the American College of Rheumatology.

Dr. Farmer received her MD from the Medical College of Georgia in 2001 and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Richland Memorial Hospital and Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina in 2004. She completed her fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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