Autoimmune disorder MOGAD gets funding boost

Three University of Sydney medicine and health researchers have been awarded over $8.9 million in funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care's Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Clinical Trials Activity initiative.

Associate Professor Sudarshini Ramanathan has been granted over $2.8 million in the MRFF Clinical Trial Activity scheme to run a phase III randomised control trial (RCT) evaluating optimal treatment at onset and relapse of an autoimmune neurological disorder referred to as myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD).

MOGAD is a recently recognised disorder, previously frequently misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis. It can affect both children and adults; and results in blindness, paralysis, and seizures if not diagnosed early or treated with the appropriate immunotherapy.

Associate Professor Ramanathan heads the Translational Neuroimmunology research team at the University of Sydney and is the lead investigator of the Australasian MOGAD Study Group. In collaboration with Professor Russell Dale and Professor Fabienne Brilot at the University of Sydney, this platform has expanded to involve over 150 paediatric and adult neurologists from 50 centres nationally, resulting in the diagnosis of 800 children and adults, and enabled a research assay to be translated into routine clinical use.

This research program has resulted in seminal studies enabling clinical and radiological characterisation of this condition to expedite diagnosis with notable papers and contributed to the first diagnostic criteria in this disorder. This program has provided some of the earliest descriptions of therapeutic efficacy and shaped treatment recommendations internationally.

Other University of Sydney academics who are key members of the team include Professor Richard Lindley, Professor Michael Barnett, Professor David Brown, and Associate Professor Stephen Reddel. This national 12-centre phase III RCT will be the first investigator-led clinical trial in this condition globally.