Cambridge, Mass. — The Food Allergy Science Initiative has launched the Food Allergy Medicines Accelerator, a new philanthropic program aimed at translating food allergy research into potential new medicines.
The initiative, known as FAMA, is launching with $10 million in initial funding and is intended to move promising discoveries from academic research toward drug development.
The launch coincides with the Food Allergy Science Initiative’s 10th anniversary. Since its founding, the organization has provided more than $50 million in funding across 126 research projects and brought together more than 100 scientists working in more than 20 laboratories.
Researchers in the network span institutions including Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Mass General Brigham, the Broad Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital.
FASI said its research has helped reshape understanding of food allergy as a systems-level disease involving interactions among the immune system, nervous system, barrier tissues and other biological pathways.
FAMA is designed to combine academic research, drug development expertise and industry collaboration to advance potential therapies toward clinical use.
Its initial $10 million investment will support four early-stage drug discovery programs involving multiple therapeutic approaches. The projects will focus on areas including validating potential drug targets, assessing whether those targets can be effectively modified and developing tools to identify and evaluate therapeutic candidates.
Programs that show sufficient promise could move into later stages of development with additional funding. Successful projects could eventually advance into clinical development through newly formed biotechnology companies or partnerships with established biopharmaceutical companies.
“A decade ago, a food allergy diagnosis meant a lifetime of avoidance and fear of the next reaction. Today, we understand the biology of this disease at a level that once seemed out of reach and that progress has created an opportunity to change what comes next,” said Carlos Bosques, M.D., chief executive officer of FASI.
“The Food Allergy Medicines Accelerator is designed to build on that foundation by moving the most promising FASI discoveries toward new therapeutic opportunities. We look forward to partnering with biopharma to translate these insights into medicines that can make a meaningful difference for patients.”
FASI principal investigators will continue working with the organization’s internal scientific team to advance academic discoveries toward therapeutic development. FAMA will add experienced industry drug developers, dedicated infrastructure and external partners to the process.
FASI said its research over the past decade has produced findings showing that immune signaling can influence the brain and avoidance behavior, damage to the skin barrier can contribute to food allergy sensitization elsewhere in the body, and specialized neurons and antibodies can either intensify or reduce allergic reactions.
“Philanthropy is what changes the pace of progress in a field like this,” said Christine Olsen, M.D., co-founder and executive chair of the FASI board of directors. “It advances discovery to the point where a biotech or pharmaceutical partner can see its potential for possible partnership.”
“Alongside our continued commitment to foundational research, the Food Allergy Medicines Accelerator will extend our efforts in the direction of the clinic, and toward help for families who are counting on us to unlock treatments and cures.”
