Global Research Spotlight – Drug Development and Discovery: The Anti-TNF Story Introductions

The era of modern drug discovery based upon knowledge of molecules involved in the disease pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune rheumatic diseases can be said to have been ushered in by the work of Sir Ravinder Maini and Marc Feldman and co-workers with the findings that the cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a major driver of inflammation and joint damage in RA. Since then, this approach to drug discovery and the resultant pharmaceuticals have revolutionized management of these diseases. The road to discovery is typically long, and the achievements often are not uniformly available to all patients suffering from these diseases. Professor Maini will describe the development and the impact of this breakthrough achievement.

Sir Ravinder Maini received his early school education in Uganda, and subsequently attended high school in the UK, and studied medicine at Cambridge University and Guy's Hospital; London, and then specialist training in clinical immunology. From 1990 to 2002 he was Professor and Scientific Director/Head of The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, London. He has published over 480 papers in scientific journals and served on the editorial board of numerous immunology and rheumatology journals. Since retirement, he has been Visiting Professor to the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at Oxford and has served in many other advisory and trustee roles.

For his contributions to medicine and medical science, he was awarded a Knighthood and has been elected/named Fellow of Royal Society, London, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), Foreign Associate Member of the USA Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Colleges of London and Edinburgh and Honorary Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, UK. He is recipient of the American College of Rheumatology Distinguished Investigator Award and many other awards. Together with Marc Feldman, he has received the Crafoord Prize of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Lasker prize for Clinical Research, as well as the Paul Jannsen Award for Biomedical Research, Ernst Schering Prize and Gairdner International Award of Canada.