First-ever naming of NTM as potential target disease

CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA - April 26, 2010 NTM Info & Research (NTMir) is pleased to announce that the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has included pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease as a possible research topic in a recent request for clinical trial grant proposals. NTM lung disease has never before specifically been named as a target disease in an NIH request for grant proposals. It is considered a big step forward in the fight against NTM by those in the medical and patient communities.

NTMir applauds the public policy and scientific work at the American Thoracic Society and Infectious Diseases Society of America; Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM), Senator Daniel Inouye (HI) and their staff members; and the researchers and physicians at University of California San Diego, University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, University of Florida, Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, McGill University, University of Miami, National Jewish Health (NJH), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Oregon Health and Sciences University, University of Texas at Tyler, University of Toronto, and Virginia Tech.

Dr. Charles Daley of NJH is chairing the NTM Research Consortium to apply for the NIAID grant. If awarded, the grant would be used to conduct a multi-center clinical trial at several national treatment centers in the United States. The trial's purpose would be to determine the effectiveness of a drug or treatment protocol to be determined by the applicants.

NTMir is delighted to have played a key synergistic role in helping to get this first Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by NIAID and looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the many people who have worked to make this RFP a reality.

NTMir's Rapid Information Pilot Studies (RIPS)™ program, a 2009 meeting with the director of NIAID, Dr. Anthony Fauci, consistent work in Congress, and the October 2009 science meeting spurred greater interest in NTM research and collaboration among the attendees from major treatment centers as well as government agencies and advocacy organizations, who have all helped push the NTM agenda forward.

"I believe that our Rapid Information Pilot Studies program has an impact that is twenty-to-one in terms of dollars," said Philip Leitman, president of NTMir. "We have accomplished a great deal with limited funding and I now believe we can accelerate progress and cut to five years what would otherwise take ten. The reason is simple. We make quick decisions and get the work done."

NTM Info & Research is a Coral Gables, Florida-based (501)(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to education, patient support, and finding a cure for NTM lung disease.