PRESS INFORMATION ________________________________________________

DUCHESS OF KENT TO OPEN NEW CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent will officially open the new £5.2m state-of-the-art Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at Charing Cross Hospital, west London, on Tuesday, June 17.

Scientists based in the new building will continue the work which has been carried out at the world-famous unit over the past 30 years. Since it opened in 1967, based at the former West London Hospital, the Kennedy Institute has been at the centre of the search for a cure for the crippling condition of arthritis.

For the first time, the Institute will bring together specialists in one location concentrating solely on basic applied and clinical rheumatic science.

The opening of the new Institute unit coincides with the selling up of the Kennedy's third phase of large-scale, international clinical trials into drugs which may arrest the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

Three years ago its scientists hit the headlines with the announcement of a major research breakthrough, which could have implications for millions of sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis.

The discovery of an antibody called cA2, which blocks a molecule responsible for the destruction of joints known as TNF, led to a sensational improvement in the conditions of many arthritis patients taking part in the first phase of multi-centre trials.

Professor Ravinder Maini, director of the Kennedy Institute, said he was now conservatively optimistic that the third phase of the clinical trials, which will be completed by the end of next year, will edge scientists ever closer to finding the elusive cure for arthritis.

"The anti-TNF drugs being tested can arrest the disease and prevent damage to joint in model systems. If this holds true for rheumatoid artlritis, it will prove to be a terrific advance - no current treatment does this," explained Prof Maini. "But fff5t we have to examine the long-term effects of the drugs, and the safety aspects have to be assessed.

"This is very much the beginning of the story, not the end of the story. Still, we are edging our way to the frontiers of scientific knowledge - we, and others, have identified important underlying mechanisms of causation of rheumatoid arthritis."

Since 1967 the Kennedy Institute has been funded by leading medical and research charity The Arthritis and Rheumatism Council, which has spent £5.2m on building the new unit, and over the next five years will give core funding of nearly £15m.

After 30 years the old building had become too cramped and outdated. The new unit is enabling scientists to carry out modern cellular and molecular biological work in purpose-built, modern labs.

Professor Maini, who joined the Institute in 1967 as a Research Fellow, believes the state-of-the-art facilities, with the Charing Cross Rheumatology clinic, will provide a platform for scientists and doctors to work together to hasten the discovery of better treatments for patients with rheumatic disease.

"This is the only unit in the world, certainly in Europe, where you have a conjunction of basic science and clinical research in the same building, on the same hospital site," he said. " We have 120 scientists here, and it's the sheer size and scope of the unit that makes this place unique. We have a very practical philosophy and that is to translate research knowledge into patient benefit.

"I certainly don't know of anywhere else where the whole concept of understanding how a disease mechanism works has been taken from the basic to applied stage - in one place.

The Duchess of Kent, who is Patron of the ARC, will perform the opening ceremony at 11 .5Oam on Tuesday, June 17, in the unit's reception area, and will then tour the new facilities with ARC chairman Sir Richard Butler, following a presentation on the work of the Institute.