TRISTAN

Swedish SME Truly Labs specialises in preclinical research and is a partner in IMI’s TRISTAN project, which is investigating how imaging techniques could be used to improve medicines safety. In an interview with the IMI Programme Office, CEO Karin von Wachenfeldt PhD sets out the benefits of IMI for SMEs. ###‘We’ve definitely found it to be a positive experience in terms of networking and meeting new contacts,’ she says. Looking to the future, she explains that TRISTAN will help them offer even more specialised services. ‘The imaging biomarkers are a very niche product and we will be one of the very few centres in the world that can do that,’ she says. ‘That may attract companies that want to study drugs with a certain type of profile.’ More broadly, she concludes that IMI ‘enables work that cannot be performed outside a bigger team effort’.

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• IMI’s news story

Drugs used to treat a wide range of conditions may carry a higher risk of side effects for the lungs than previously thought. This is the result of a review by IMI’s TRISTAN project published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. The team notes that while the drugs studied work well for most patients, doctors should be more aware of the potential risks to their patients’ respiratory systems.### They also note that more research is needed in this area. The team arrived at their findings after analysing 156 papers with data on 6 200 patients taking 27 drugs to treat diseases like arthritis, cancer and heart disease. Their focus was on cases of drug-induced interstitial lung disease (DIILD). Interstitial lung disease occurs when lung tissue become scarred, making it hard for patients to breathe. The review showed that around 3-5 % of interstitial lung disease cases are caused by DIILD.

‘Though this area is not well researched, we can say that the side effects of drugs on the lung are much more widespread than previously thought,’ said John Waterton of the University of Manchester. ‘We do know it affects a considerable number of people, which is why we want to develop better imaging tests to pick up any lung problems before they become serious. It’s important to stress that patients can safely continue to take their medication - but it’s also important that doctors monitor and assess them closely for side effects in the lung.’ The lead author of the paper, Nazia Chaudhuri of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, added: ‘With newer drugs coming on the market this is an increasing yet under recognised problem and we need better ways of detecting these side effects before they cause harm.’ In conclusion, the authors highlight the areas where further study is needed and point out that the TRISTAN project will work on these.