The MDR-RA Consortium in Milan, Italy, January 2025
29.01.2025 - Our Division is part of a European project on multi-drug resistant rheumatoid arthritis
The MDR-RA (Multi-Drug Resistance in Rheumatoid Arthritis) project has officially started: it’s an international research initiative, with a total budget of €8.4 million, funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe program and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation. The project, which is coordinated by Humanitas University, involves 23 partners from 12 European countries. In addition to MedUni Vienna, other renowned academic institutions, leading companies, healthcare organisations and patient associations are involved.
The MDR-RA project aims to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying drug resistance in difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis and integrate them with clinical risk factors. Its objective is to develop personalised predictive models and optimise patient treatments while simultaneously reducing the socioeconomic impact of the disease.
“This project represents a fundamental step forward in understanding the molecular basis of multi-drug resistance in rheumatoid arthritis. Through a precision medicine approach, we aim to transform patient care with more targeted and effective therapies,” stated Prof. Costantino Pitzalis, project coordinator, Full Professor of Rheumatology at Humanitas University, where he also leads the Residency School in Rheumatology, and at Queen Mary University of London, where he conducts his clinical and scientific activities.
An innovative approach to managing a complex disease
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common chronic inflammatory joint disease, affecting approximately 1% of the adult population, with about 3 million people impacted in the European Union alone. The condition, which significantly affects the lives of patients, is potentially disabling and responsible for considerable economic and social costs, estimated at €55 billion annually in Europe, and represents a particularly complex clinical challenge when patients develop resistance to existing therapies.
The mission of the MDR-RA project is to provide new, personalized, and more effective solutions for these patients by integrating clinical and molecular data, particularly through the study of the synovial membrane, the disease’s target tissue. Synovial biopsy, a minimally invasive procedure still underutilized in routine clinical practice, allows for the analysis of joint tissues with highly advanced technologies to detect significant molecular biomarkers, not only of the inflammatory type, that can guide therapy selection.
These data, combined with patients’ clinical information, will be processed using artificial intelligence to create a comprehensive predictive algorithm called iCare-RA. This tool will be central to personalising treatments and improving clinical outcomes.
“In the end, this project brings us one step closer to the precision future of rheumatology,” concludes Pitzalis, outlining a promising vision for the treatment of complex chronic diseases.