Groundbreaking research repositions anti-inflammatory treatment for a clinical trial at Monash Newborn

Years of preclinical studies into early life inflammatory diseases at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University’s Department of Paediatrics have led to an established anti-inflammatory treatment being approved for a clinical trial at Monash Health Newborn and Monash Children’s Hospital.

The exciting development will see existing anti-inflammatory treatment, anakinra, repurposed to prevent the inflammation that drives most diseases afflicting preterm babies. Doing so may, for example, restore healthy brain development in these babies, which, left untreated, often results in cerebral palsy.

Leading the “Anakinra Pilot” trial, Professor Marcel Nold, consultant neonatologist at Monash Newborn and scientist at Monash University and the Hudson Institute, says the research team aims to study 24 participants over a 1 to 2-year span.

“We will offer this new treatment to extremely premature babies…born between 24 to 28 weeks’ gestation,” he says.

Surviving the first few weeks and months of life is often one of the greatest health challenges premature babies ever face, with inflammation underlying illnesses not only to the brain, but also the lungs, the heart and the gut.

Repositioning anakinra as an anti-inflammatory treatment for premature babies aims to improve the function and health of the lungs, brain, the immune system and maybe even coagulation.

To make this groundbreaking program possible, Professor Marcel Nold and the members of Anakinra Pilot’s Steering Committee, Professors Rod Hunt and Claudia Nold, Dr Rob Galinsky and Dr Elly Green, have brought together a large multidisciplinary team, comprising members from Monash Newborn, Monash Children’s Hospital, Monash Health, the Hudson Institute, Monash University’s Department of Paediatrics, Monash Institute for Pharmacological Sciences and the University of Auckland.

Professor Nold says, “building on more than a decade of pre-clinical work by us and others, the Anakinra Pilot brings a new therapeutic opportunity to preterm babies for the first time. As an anti-inflammatory, it holds promise to fill an important gap in the armoury we have available to keep our young patients safe and healthy.”