A bill approved last year by the House Appropriations Committee contains dire cuts to funding for the National Institutes of Health. The ACR is urging the House to revise this language and the Senate not to allow these cuts to go through. Contact your legislators to convey the importance of robust investment in the nation’s medical research enterprise and how funding cuts harm patient care.
Rheumatology Priorities Advanced at Busy AMA House of Delegates Meeting
Two ACR-led resolutions on in-office specialty drug dispensing and the proposed NIH Public Access Plan passed the House of Delegates and will become AMA policy.
NIH Starts Study of COVID-19 Booster Shot in People with Autoimmune Diseases
(Reuters)—The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is testing a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines in people with autoimmune diseases who have not responded well to the primary vaccine course. The mid-stage study will be conducted among about 600 participants aged 18 and above who have been fully vaccinated with shots from either Pfizer Inc.,…
2018 FNIH Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists Nomination Deadline: March 30
In 2018, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) will present the FNIH Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists (Trailblazer Prize), which recognizes the outstanding contributions of early career clinician-scientists whose work has the potential to or has led to innovations in patient care. This $10,000 honorarium and prize celebrates the achievements of medical doctors…
AMP RA/Lupus Network Shares Its Progress
Researchers from the AMP RA/Lupus Network came together in June at the annual FOCIS meeting to share their progress as they perform a systematic molecular deconstruction of human diseases…
ACR Leaders to Talk Policy with Congressional Leaders in D.C.
On May 11, ACR leaders will fly to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressional leaders on behalf of ACR and ARHP members. With so many pressing policy issues facing the medical community this year, we hope that you, too, will let your members of Congress know where you stand on the following issues: Support Medical…
Accelerating Medicines Partnership Advances Research for Autoimmune Diseases
Advancing the understanding of autoimmune diseases has implications for precision medicine, according to Robert Carter, MD, of the NIH. Research funded through the NIH’s Accelerating Medicines Partnership has the potential to develop better biomarkers and clinical trials for lupus and RA, paving the way for more personalized treatment…
Verily, Vanderbilt to Test Enrollment in U.S. Precision Medicine Pilot
(Reuters)—The National Institutes of Health on Thursday named Verily, formerly Google Life Sciences, as advisor to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University in a pilot program to launch the Precision Medicine Initiative outlined by President Barack Obama last year. The program aims to enroll 79,000 volunteer participants by the end of this year to supply personal data that…
NIH-Funded Trials Dip While Industry Trials Are on the Rise
(Reuters Health)—Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the number of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows. Analyzing the ClinicalTrials.gov database, researchers found that after trial registration became a requirement for publication in major scientific…
Teriparatide to Denosumab Switch Helpful in Osteoporosis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In postmenopausal osteoporotic women, changing from teriparatide to denosumab benefits bone mineral density (BMD) but switching from denosumab to teriparatide may result in bone loss, according to new research. In a July 3 online paper in The Lancet, Dr. Benjamin Z. Leder, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues noted that many…