Researchers who revolutionised treatment of autoimmune diseases receive top prize

Professors Maini and Feldmann receive Ernst Schering Prize <em> - News </em>

By Laura Gallagher

Two researchers whose work led to a groundbreaking new treatment for arthritis and other autoimmune diseases have been jointly awarded one of Germany's most prestigious science prizes.

Emeritus Professor Sir Ravinder Maini and Professor Marc Feldmann, from the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology at Imperial College London, were announced this week as the winners of the €50,000 Ernst Schering Prize.

Established in 1991 by the Ernst Schering Research Foundation, this annual international prize is awarded for particularly outstanding basic research in the fields of medicine, biology or chemistry.

The research that Professors Maini and Feldmann carried out has led to the development of new drugs to tackle the inflammation and tissue destruction caused by rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases including ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

These 'anti-TNF' drugs, now used by millions of people across the world, have proved effective in most patients, even those resistant to all previous treatments. They also protect the joints from further destruction.

Previous treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis left almost half of all patients with symptoms of continuing disease, deterioration of physical function and progressive joint damage.

In the video below, Professors Maini and Feldmann, their colleague Professor Peter Taylor and a patient called Sam Kelly explain how anti-TNF drugs were developed and how these drugs have transformed people's lives.

373medicine

The Professors will receive their awards from the Ernst Schering Foundation in a ceremony in Berlin on 29 September 2010.

The Ernst Schering Prize is one of many important accolades that the researchers have received. They were awarded the Dr Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in 2008, the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award in 2003 and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 2000. Further detail on these awards and on the researchers’ work can be found in the related news stories above.

-ends-