In March 2004, NIBR decided to integrate some groups of diseases which share similar fundamental immunological mechanisms and created a new Autoimmunity & Transplantation Disease Area (DA), focusing mainly on transplantation, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
 

Transplantation
Acute rejection of foreign organs or tissues by host immune response is a significant medical impediment to successful transplantation. There is medical need for equi- or more effective life-saving immunosupression for management of acute rejection with decreased toxicity and/or less risk of infection and malignancies; management or prevention of chronic rejection or early infection.
 

Our focus at NIBR is to discover novel and proprietary immunosupressants that are immune cell-target-specific and free from non-mechanism based toxicity.

Psoriasis
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that is currently incurable and requires life-long  treatment to keep the symptoms under control. There is high unmet medical need for an effective and safe treatment offering long-term control and/or cure of the disease.
 

Our primary objective at NIBR is to develop safe and effective disease-modifying therapy.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
RA is an autoimmune disorder characterized by symmetric erosive synovitis, severe pain, and systemic manifestations, such as morning stiffness, fatigue, fever and depression. There is a medical need for an effective oral drug with proven ability to halt, or even reverse, the progression of structural joint damage, having a high safety and tolerability profile.
 

Our specific focus at NIBR is to find targets, which modulate the basic underlying immunological and inflammatory processes of RA. The hypothesis is that suppression will control or prevent secondary events leading to structural damage in the joints.

Other areas of research of the Autoimmunity & Transplantation DA are Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and multiple sclerosis (MS).

The Autoimmunity & Transplantation DA is headed by Jan de Vries; it is located in Vienna and Basel.

Weitz-Schmidt G, Welzenbach K, Dawson J, Kallen J.,Improved LFA-1 inhibition by statin derivatives: Molecular basis determined by X-ray analysis and monitoring of LFA-1 conformational changes in vitro and ex vivo. J Biol Chem. (2004 Aug 10).

Brinkmann V, Cyster JG, Hla T.,FTY720: sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor-1 in the control of lymphocyte egress and endothelial barrier function, Am J Transplant. 4(7):1019-25. (2004 Jul).

Welsch CA, Roth LW, Goetschy JF, Movva NR. Genetic, Biochemical, and Transcriptional Responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the Novel Immunomodulator FTY720 Largely Mimic Those of the Natural Sphingolipid Phytosphingosine.   J Biol Chem. 279(35):36720-31. (2004).

Schaerli P, Ebert L, Willimann K, Blaser A, Roos RS, Loetscher P, Moser B. A skin-selective homing mechanism for human immune surveillance T cells. J Exp Med. 3;199(9):1265-75. (2004 May).

Schuler W, Bigaud M, Brinkmann V, Di Padova F, Geisse S, Gram H, Hungerford V, Kleuser B, Kristofic C, Menninger K, Tees R, Wieczorek G, Wilt C, Wioland C, Zurini M. Efficacy and safety of ABI793, a novel human anti-human CD154 monoclonal antibody, in cynomolgus monkey renal allotransplantation. Transplantation. 15;77(5):717-26. (2004 Mar).

Deola S, Scaramuzza S, Birolo RS, Carballido-Perrig N, Ficara F, Mocchetti C, Dando J, Carballido JM, Bordignon C, Roncarolo MG, Bregni M, Aiuti, A.    Mobilized Blood CD34+ Cells Transduced and Selected with a Clinically Applicable Protocol Reconstitute Lymphopoiesis in SCID-Hu Mice.   Human Gene Therapy  15(3),  305-311. (2004).
 

Transplantation products
In the early 1980's, Novartis (or rather its predecessor Sandoz) began its commitment to the field of transplantation with the introduction of Sandimmune® (cyclosporine A), a drug that dramatically prolonged and enhanced the lives of transplant recipients and revolutionized the field. The improved formulation of Sandimmune, Neoral® was introduced in 1994. In 2002 Novartis first launched Myfortic® (mycophenolate sodium) an immunosuppressant for renal transplant patients. Certican® (everolimus) for combination therapy to prevent transplant rejection has been approved in Europe and will launch in 2004.

Elidel® (pimecrolimus)
Novartis achieved a therapeutic breakthrough in 2002 with the launch of Elidel, a steroid-free cream to treat atopic dermatitis or eczema, which is now number one on the world’s market.

Lamisil® (terbinafine HCl tablets)
Lamisil is the most frequently prescribed treatment for fungal nail infection worldwide.

FTY720, a new cornerstone in immune modulation, is currently in late stages of development for the prevention of acute rejection and graft loss in kidney transplant patients, as well as for MS.