NIH And Pharmaceutical Companies Join In The Accelerating Medicines Partnership

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has announced the formation of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP). The venture is a partnership between the federal health agency, ten pharmaceutical companies, and non-profit organizations.  By forming this new kind of association, the NIH intends to transform the diagnostic and treatment model. The joint goal is to identify promising avenues and pursue them quickly, saving time and money, and speeding treatment to patients.

The project will begin with type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and lupus. Projects are designed for three or five years of study. Industry and NIH scientists will identify biomarkers (molecular indicators of disease) and biotargets for new treatments. The NIH, the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), and industry will share resources and expenses (230 million dollars). Steering committees will govern the process, organized by disease area. Committees will develop plans, define research targets, and update on milestones and progress.

Challenging Times

While basic and applied science has provided many technological discoveries on biology and disease courses, making practical and effective treatments has been more challenging. The NIH believes that time is lost as insights into biology often lead to choosing the wrong target for treatment. These mistakes cost patients’ health, quality of life, and sometimes their lives. Time and money is lost as the drug discovery process goes off track. Many FDA approvals take ten years from beginning to end. Successfully approved drugs have a price tag of one billion dollars, as over 95% have failed during the process and approved drugs must bear the costs of their failed brethren.

The most expensive failures happen in late stage clinical trials. 52 to 59% of drugs fail in Phase II and Phase II trials. Therefore, the NIH believes that early targeting of biological targets can significantly improve success. This project intends to encourage the public, government, academia, and industry to work together to find new and better targeted therapies.

Researchers plan to use all the resources necessary including proteomics, genomics, and imaging studies. Diagnostic tests and biomarker information will be processed to develop new therapies. One example of targeted therapy is the drug imatinib (Gleevec). It was developed to target an enzyme in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Industry Partners

The NIH has selected ten industry partners for the new venture including AbbVie, Biogen Idec, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Takeda.