On Friday, November 4, the CHRU formalized, alongside its partners the Métropole du Grand Nancy, the University of Lorraine and Inserm, its application for the creation of a university hospital institute (IHU) specializing in diseases inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
IBD, definition
Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are characterized by inflammation of unknown origin of the wall of part of the digestive tract, linked to hyperactivity of the digestive immune system.
There is no curative treatment for these diseases, but current medications usually allow lasting control of the disease and a satisfactory quality of life outside of flare-ups. Several avenues of research are being developed to further improve existing treatments. (Source: Inserm)
The mechanisms at the origin of inflammatory bowel diseases remain unknown. Researchers are studying them with a view to identifying exploitable avenues for developing new therapies.
INFINY: an IHU dedicated to the prevention and cure of IBD
Faced with the complexity of caring for patients with IBD and the complex treatments that already exist, it is essential to find a response that meets the challenges of public health within a dedicated IHU.
In France, one inhabitant in 10 suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease. Without proven causes identified, these incurable pathologies have a heavy impact on patients and their loved ones in their daily lives.
While contributing to research on comorbidities and the management of other inflammatory diseases to extend the benefits of the project to more patients, the IHU INFINY pursues a triple ambition:
– allow patients with IBD to live a normal life with the disease,
– reduce diagnostic delays and medical wandering through the construction of appropriate prevention actions and their deployment on a national and international scale,
– open up the prospect of a cure for IBD patients and the eventual eradication of the disease in the general population.
To feed this ambition, the INFINY team has set itself two main objectives:
– improve and accelerate the detection of IBD, to prevent their appearance and their complications,
– offer early, personalized and 360° treatment to pave the way to recovery.
An eco-responsible IHU: located at the heart of the Brabois Hospitals site will offer patients with IBD a one-stop reception desk, will bring together all the actors working on these diseases and will be open to society. The building, designed and managed in an eco-responsible manner, will be located at the heart of a dynamic and buoyant ecosystem in close proximity to key infrastructures for the project. The IHU respects the environment, which will prevent the appearance of these diseases.
A network of strong partners to shine at the national level
For ten years, a dynamic has been created around all the actors involved (training, care, research) and national and global visibility thanks to the effort of all. More than a hundred people are mobilized for the ambition to lead to the cure of IBD by the creation of the IHU.
4 first-rate local partners are united around this common project:
• University Hospital of Nancy
• Metropolis of Greater Nancy
• University of Lorraine
• National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm)
Learn more about INFINY
The University Hospital Institutes (IHU), tools of the future investment program to promote innovation
Key players in the innovation strategy, the IHUs work for the benefit of patients. These places of scientific and medical excellence invent the medicine of tomorrow, future treatments and new practices.
They are based on research and development and collaborate with different professions: teacher, clinician, researcher and industrialist to work together and meet the needs of patients and caregivers. Centered on the patient, the teams are part of a translational research aim, which offers a sharing of knowledge and with an international influence.
In France, there are six IHUs that have chosen to commit to combining their strengths, their initiatives and their proposals for the benefit of accelerating medical innovation in France.
→ The IHU 2022 call for projects, endowed with €300 million, aims to create up to six new IHUs, future centers of excellence in research, care, prevention, training and technology transfer in the field of health.
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