OKLAHOMA MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
825 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73104 www.omrf.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) is dedicated to developing a better understanding of and more effective treatments for human disease.

Arthritis and Clinical Immunology/Clinical Operations - The National Institutes of Health once again named OMRF an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, one of only 10 in the U.S. With this designation comes funding to design and launch new clinical trials for patients with diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Those trials include: * Testing medications to prevent the onset of lupus and RA * A pair of experimental therapies targeted at reversing damage caused by MS * A study designed to assess when it might be safe to stop lupus treatments that carry potentially toxic side effects in patients whose disease has waned

Cardiovascular Biology Research Program - In November, the FDA announced it had approved a new drug to treat sickle cell disease. The therapy, known as Adakveo, is based on discoveries made in OMRF's Cardiovascular Biology Research Program. Approval came following a 52-week clinical trial showing treatment with the drug led to a significant reduction in pain crises for sickle cell patients. The blood disorder, which affects more than 1 million people worldwide, causes excruciating pain and can lead to organ damage and even death. "I've treated people with sickle cell disease, and their suffering is extreme," says Dr. Rodger McEver, the OMRF researcher upon whose work the new drug is based. "It's the dream of every physician, and certainly every scientist, to do something that can make a difference with patients."

Aging and Metabolism Research Program - Scientists in this program study a host of different disease processes, but their work unites in a common theme: building knowledge to extend the healthspan of our aging population. In 2019, they progressed toward this goal in a variety of ways. One scientist received funding from the National Institutes of Health for novel experiments to investigate whether the brain chemical dopamine plays a role in Alzheimer's disease. Another initiated a pair of multi-year projects designed to understand osteoarthritis, with an emphasis on the effects of aging, diet and trauma in the knee joint. Finally, in a study highlighted by The New York Times, work in this program showed that, despite hope to the contrary, the widely-used diabetes drug metformin doesn't seem to be a magic bullet that will counter the effects of aging.

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