Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute, and Amgen will work together to discover new therapeutic targets and develop therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. The collaboration brings together scientists with expertise in clinical medicine, IBD biology, human genetics, genomic technology, and drug discovery.

The effort will include collection and analysis of patient DNA samples to identify and further validate genetic targets, biological assays to probe gene function, and subsequent drug discovery and development activities. A joint steering committee will be formed to select and guide projects.

The MGH-Broad-Amgen collaboration will leverage the shared expertise of its participating scientists and partner institutions to discover and develop novel therapies for IBD. The effort will include collection and analysis of patient DNA samples to identify and further validate genetic targets, biological assays to probe gene function, and subsequent drug discovery and development activities. A joint steering committee will be formed to select and guide projects.

“Current IBD treatment options are limited,” said Sean E. Harper, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. “We believe this collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute will help identify improved treatment options for these patients.”

In August 2013, the Broad Institute and MGH launched an initiative to perform large-scale exome sequencing in inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. The initiative called on researchers worldwide with a goal of developing a collaborative exome sequencing network.

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