Final meeting in Amsterdam, January 23-25 2011

The spirit was high and pride and optimism prevailed as the last AutoCure annual meeting was held in Amsterdam end of January . This was definetely not the time nor the place for tearful farewells. As the partners summarised five years of hard work and fruitful collaboration it became more and more clear that the past years only seem to have been the first stage towards further research for a better understanding of rheumatoid diseases.

The atmosphere at this gathering reminded at lot more of a kick-off than a funeral. Everybody agreed that collaboration always beats fragmentation in research and that the translational, multiprofessional approach in AutoCure is the only way to move forward in science.
— The legacy of AutoCure is that we have obtained a more complete perspective on the disease. We now know that RA consists of at least two different syndroms. And one of the big accomplishments is the confirmation of the strong link between smoking and bad outcome of RA, said coordinator Lars Klareskog.

AutoCure researchers have also developed several new prediction models and shown the importance of early and differentiated treatment of RA-patients.
A unique international database with samples from 900 myositis patients has been created within the consortium and on the clinical level new therapeutic strategies have been developed, leading to less severe RA in patients.

Many of the acquired AutoCure insights have great commercial potentials and will most likely be used for future drug developments. And as this last annual meeting was a moment of new beginnings rather than endings, it was declared that a majority of the AutoCure partners will continue to work together in a new project, which will be launched in April.