Launch of the IHU of Montpellier: hope against autoimmune diseases

At the launch of Immun4Cure, this Tuesday, at the headquarters of the Métropole. DR – University of Montpellier

Founded by Inserm, the CHU and the University of Montpellier, the Immun4Cure University Hospital Institute was officially launched this Tuesday. It is one of the twelve IHUs labeled in France. The long-term objective: to offer innovative solutions adapted to each case.

Will Montpellier one day be a stronghold in the research and treatment of autoimmune diseases?? This is the objective of the IHU (University Hospital Institute) Immun4Cure which was launched this Tuesday, September 17 at the headquarters of the Métropole, in Montpellier.

Since May 2023, the Montpellier IHU project has been labeled as part of the France 2030 plan. This has allowed it to be financed to the tune of 20 million euros by the State. Supported by the Montpellier University Hospital, Inserm and the University of Montpellier, this IHU is now one of 12 in France.

Immun4Cure is based on four axes: “better understand the immune response, create an optimized care pathway, offer patients innovative therapies, promote training in immunology and biotechnology”.

“The patient cohorts are launched, explains the director of the IHU, Christian Jorgensen. We are setting up the technical platforms in order to test the different molecules”. The goal is to rely on innovative cellular and biological therapeutic tools.

Treatments are slow in coming

Nearly 80 diseases are caused by a dysfunction of the immune system. Their causes are multifactorial and they can affect almost all organs. These diseases lead the body to attack the body's normal constituents. No treatment currently exists.

5 to 8% of the world's population, including 15 million Europeans, are affected by these diseases. It is the 2nd cause of chronic pain. Eight times more women than men are affected by it.

A real public health issue, their management is a major challenge due to the increase in their frequency over the past ten years, the significant increase in the cost of their management and the need for increased coordination and standardization of diagnostic methods, therapeutic progress with a reduction in morbidity and an increase in life expectancy.

Fifteen research teams

"We benefit from 70 M€ over ten years for this IHU, continues the director. We will have a thousand patients per year but this will increase gradually. 600 will be in cohorts for five years, with annual follow-up. There will also be therapeutic trials, and patients who will come for medical management of an autoimmune disease."

Fifteen research teams are planned. Christian Jorgensen mentions "a hundred jobs over ten years. We recruit for highly qualified jobs but we benefit from the attractiveness of the site."

The IHU is at the heart of the MedVallée ecosystem. Partnerships with manufacturers will help develop new biomedicines. "This is important because it takes ten years between design and marketing", emphasizes the director.

At the Saint-Éloi University Hospital and on the Triolet site

"The Inserm Foundation will house this IHU, which is one of our strategic priorities", adds Didier Samuel, CEO of Inserm, one of the three founders of the IHU.

"This IHU is recognition of the excellence of the Montpellier site in understanding, treating and researching diseases autoimmune diseases", underlines Anne Ferrer, general director of the Montpellier University Hospital, the second pillar of Immun4Cure.

The Cima (Interdisciplinary Center for Autoimmune Diseases) is already hosted at the Saint-Éloi University Hospital, where the IRMB is also located. The third founder of the IHU, the University of Montpellier has just made available a 1,500 m2 building dedicated to research on the Triolet campus. That is more than 5,000 m2 in total on the three sites (Cima, IRMB, Triolet).

"This IHU is part of a strategy positioning our university as a key player in health", specifies the president of the University, Philippe Augé.

"Our desire is to promote the transition from basic research to the patient's bedside", concludes Lise Alter, director of the Health Innovation Agency.