Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR) Receives Renewed Federal Funding

October 4, 2019

For Immediate Release

American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders
P.O. Box 29545
Atlanta, GA 30359
www.apfed.org

Contact: Mary Jo Strobel, Executive Director, (713) 493-7749, mjstrobel@apfed.org

 

Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR) Receives Renewed Federal Funding
APFED to continue participation in multi-center collaboration

(Atlanta, GA)— The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED), a non-profit advocacy organization established in 2001, is pleased to share that the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  has awarded continued funding to the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR) to research eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal diseases (EGIDs) and train investigators to conduct clinical research.

The five-year, $7.57 million grant (U54AI117804) is funded by the Office of Rare Diseases Research, which is part of the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, as part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network, and by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Thanks to the generous donations of community members, APFED also provides supplemental funding to CEGIR through its HOPE on the Horizon Research Grant Program.

CEGIR brings together scientists, health care providers, patients, and professional organizations such as APFED to bring transformative changes to the care of patients with EGIDs. CEGIR first formed in 2014 after receiving $6.25 million through the NIH to research EGIDs, focusing its efforts on patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), eosinophilic gastritis (EG), and/or eosinophilic colitis (EC). During its first 5-year cycle of funding, CEGIR launched a long-term study and follow-up of patients with EoE, EG, and EC as well as several other studies to help better understand the natural history of these diseases and which treatments work for which diseases.

In addition to offering supplemental grant opportunities to CEGIR, APFED works in concert with CEGIR to ensure the patient perspective is included in all aspects of its work and to help recruit patients into critical clinical trials.

“This multi-institute collaboration involves clinical researchers from institutions across the United States and in Switzerland, all working together to better understand and treat these rare diseases,” said APFED President Dr. Wendy Book. “APFED has a long history of advocating for federal funding to research these conditions, and we are excited to continue participating in CEGIR’s important work with this renewed grant.”

To learn more about CEGIR, visit rdcrn.org/cegir. To learn more about APFED, visit apfed.org.

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About American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED)
The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) is a non-profit organization dedicated to patients and their families coping with eosinophilic disorders. APFED’s mission is to embrace, support, and improve the lives of patients and families affected by eosinophil-associated diseases through education and awareness, research, support, and advocacy. www.apfed.org

About Eosinophil-associated Diseases
Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that helps our immune systems fight off infections and parasites. They also play a role in allergic reactions and inflammatory processes.

When a person has symptoms and an elevated number of eosinophils in their tissues, organs, and/or bloodstream, without a known cause, he/she may have an eosinophil-associated disease. These conditions are further characterized by the areas of the body in which the eosinophils have accumulated.

A few examples include the esophagus (eosinophilic esophagitis), stomach (eosinophilic gastritis), or the lungs (eosinophilic asthma).

Symptoms of eosinophil disease may vary depending on the area of the body affected, and by age. Patients often embark on a long, frustrating journey seeing many different specialists before a diagnosis is made. Although not commonly life-threatening, these chronic diseases require lifelong treatment and can cause debilitating symptoms. Most subsets of eosinophil-associated disease do not yet have an FDA-approved pharmaceutical indicated for treatment.

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