Autism research collaboration
A multi-million euro collaboration between academia and industry will research autism...
An international consortium of scientists, including Birkbeck, University of London, has launched one of the largest ever research academic-industry collaborative projects to find new methods for the development of drugs for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
European Autism Interventions – A Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications (EU-AIMS) is the largest single grant for autism in the world and the largest in any mental health disorder in Europe.
Led by Roche and King’s College London, EU-AIMS will partner top scientists from 14 European centres of excellence with major global drug companies from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) as well as world-leading autism charities including Autism Speaks.
The five-year project will focus on three areas:
- developing and validating translational research approaches for the advancement of novel therapies for ASD
- identifying, aligning and developing expert clinical sites across Europe to run clinical trials
- creating an interactive platform for ASD professionals and patients
By the end of the project EU-AIMS expects to provide novel validated cellular assays, animal models, new fMRI methods with dedicated analysis techniques, new PET radioligands, as well as new genetic and proteomic biomarkers for patient-segmentation or individual response prediction. It also aims to establish a research network that can then move on to testing the investigational treatments in humans.
Professor Mark Johnson, Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, said: “I am delighted to be part of this vitally important European project that we hope, in time, will help the lives of people with autism.”
Professor Declan Murphy, King’s College London, added: “This ground-breaking integrated research effort is unprecedented and will allow us to change the scientific landscape of autism research and clinical drug development throughout Europe.”
ASD affects an estimated 1% of children worldwide; more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, juvenile diabetes and pediatric cancer combined.
Will Spooren, Project Coordinator of EU-AIMS and group leader Behavioural Pharmacology at Roche Neuroscience, added: “Recent genomic and functional studies have shed light on the pathophysiology of autism. We need to work together if we want to fully harness those developments and pave the way for new treatment options which would cluster ASD patients sharing common pathophysiological features.”
The research of EU-AIMS receives support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n° 115300, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), from the EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution and from Autism Speaks resulting in a total of €29.6 million.