Shift towards personalized treatment approaches for chronic inflammatory diseases

Chronic inflammatory diseases affect 5% to 7% of the population, regardless of age or gender, from children to the elderly. Chronic inflammatory diseases include a range of conditions. The most common inflammatory diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis.

Few of the current therapies for chronic inflammatory diseases are effective and while some can control the disease, they do not provide a cure. To overcome these problems, researchers and physicians are focusing on several topics to improve patient care in therapeutic antibody treatment.

The landscape of treating chronic inflammatory diseases has undergone a significant transformation with the advent of targeted therapies using therapeutic antibodies. However, a significant proportion of patients do not respond adequately to treatment or experience a decrease in response over time. This challenge mainly relates to issues such as suboptimal dosing, immunogenicity and variations in pharmacokinetics (how the drugs circulate through the body) in different patients.

In response to this critical need for more effective treatment, researchers have initiated a strategic shift toward personalized treatment approaches. This includes the development of patient stratification tools and the use of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to adjust dosages based on serum drug concentrations.

The potential for substantial improvement in patient care is enormous by implementing individualized (TDM-guided) dosing regimens of therapeutic antibodies into routine clinical practice for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. This tailored approach will ultimately lead to more efficient use of these valuable but expensive medicines “the right medicine in the right dose for the right patient”.

However, Europe faces a challenge in the fragmentation of expertise regarding individualized (TDM-guided) treatment optimization. The knowledge and techniques required for effective implementation are concentrated in a limited number of pioneering centers, which makes dissemination to other centers difficult. In particular, the lack of standardization in TDM testing contributes to the complexity.

Introducing ENOTTA COST promotion

To address these challenges and promote a more coherent approach, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary pan-European network is being established. ENOTTA COST Action, which stands for “European Network on Optimizing Treatment with Therapeutic Antibodies in chronic inflammatory diseases”,” brings together 156 experts from 31 countries, including key scientific disciplines such as physicians, basic researchers, biologists, computer scientists, pharmacometrists, patients, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and health authorities, to cover all aspects of the challenge.

ENOTTA advocates personalized use of therapeutic antibodies to become the new standard of care for patients with chronic inflammatory diseases.”

Prof. Denis Mulleman, chairman of ENOTTA

This initiative aims to consolidate and structure scientific research in this area and thus promote collaboration and knowledge exchange. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the seamless integration of individualized (TDM-guided) cost-effective dose optimization of therapeutic antibodies into daily clinical practice for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Added value with ENOTTA

The ENOTTA COST action is groundbreaking and aims to create a distinctive framework, unlike all existing initiatives. This innovative initiative is designed to facilitate networking, sustainable collaboration and expansion of partnerships between participants across Europe.

ENOTTA stands ready to catalyze progress in this therapeutic area, facilitating the exchange of expertise and the wide dissemination of valuable knowledge for the benefit of patients suffering from long-standing inflammatory diseases. By fostering scientific collaboration between key players in the European research landscape, this initiative will play a crucial role in advancing the field of personalized use of therapeutic antibodies. Furthermore, it will establish critical connections with leading experts on a global scale.

Taken together, the innovative nature of this action will come from the ability of the entire group to create tools for patient stratification, test harmonization, universal standards and the availability of guidelines and treatment algorithms that are accepted by health insurers, physicians and patients. . These developments will be crucial for implementing individualized (TDM-based) dose optimization of therapeutic antibodies in daily clinical practice. Ultimately, the optimal use of therapeutic antibodies using TDM will alleviate the burden on the healthcare system. Furthermore, the insights gained from this action can also guide future research in other disciplines, such as oncology, metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases, using therapeutic antibodies.