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"Thanks to their pioneering biomedical research, Feldmann and Maini havesignificantly improved the lives of millions of patients with chronicinflammatory conditions," said Paul Stoffels, company group chairman, GlobalResearch and Development, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson. "We aredelighted that the 2008 Dr. Paul Janssen Award is going to two researcherswith a lifelong commitment to translational research. Their achievementswould have been greatly appreciated by Dr. Paul Janssen, who himself wasinstrumental in the development of many important medicines."
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For more than 20 years, Feldmann and Maini have collaborated on basicresearch and clinical trials that have transformed the treatment of peoplediagnosed with chronic inflammatory conditions. Feldmann and Mainiinvestigated the role of cytokines, protein messenger molecules that driveinflammation, and found that a single cytokine, TNF-alpha, was responsible forthe debilitating symptoms of inflammatory disease. In seeking ways to blockTNF-alpha, they studied a monoclonal antibody previously developed for anunrelated condition. Clinical trials revealed rapid and dramatic improvementof rheumatoid disease activity with anti-TNF therapy, ultimately influencingthe development of several anti-TNF drugs that are used routinely to treatprevalent and debilitating conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
"Advances in molecular medicine, biotechnology and contributions from manycolleagues enabled our discovery to be made," said Maini. "It is a joy to seehow the lives of patients have been changed by this treatment."
There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoidarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and ulcerative colitis. The safety andefficacy of anti-TNF therapies has been well established in clinical trialsand through experience with more than one million patients treated globally.
"It is very pleasing that our research defining TNF as a good therapeutictarget for rheumatoid arthritis has subsequently led to TNF blockade inCrohn's disease, psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis and ulcerative colitis,"said Feldmann. "Blocking other cytokines such as IL-6 has been successful,too. This has led to a newly emerging branch of medicine, anti-cytokinetherapy. We are very excited that we now have the potential to treat evenmore diseases and help more patients."
Feldmann and Maini received additional recognition during two relatedevents in New York City: an invitation-only gala reception on September 9 anda scientific symposium at the New York Academy of Sciences today. NobelLaureate and 2006 winner of The Dr. Paul Janssen Award, Craig Mello, Ph.D.,chaired the scientific symposium, "From Bench to Bedside: Novel Anti-CytokineTherapies." The symposium featured presentations on scientific advances sincethe initial discovery of anti-TNF therapy, including advances in the basicunderstanding of disease mechanisms and development of new anti-cytokinetherapies.
Feldmann and Maini previously received the Albert Lasker Clinical MedicalResearch Award in 2003 and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy in2000, among others, for their work on TNF-alpha.
About The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research
