ImmuneHealthXL

About 1 million peoplein the Netherlands live with an immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID),such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis or Crohn'sdisease. These diseases occur when the immune system becomes unbalanced andstarts attacking the body's own tissues. Together, they cost an estimated 1.5billion euros in healthcare spending each year in the Netherlands alone andhave a major impact on patients' daily lives. Although good treatments havebeen developed in recent years, they don't cure the disease and don't work foreveryone.

ImmuneHealthXL (IHXL) isa national initiative that studies these diseases together, rather than one byone. Researchers, clinicians, patients, companies and five Dutch healthfoundations (Hartstichting, Maag Lever Darm Stichting, Princess BeatrixSpierfond, Stichting MS Research and ReumaNederland) support IHXL. By lookingacross diseases at what these conditions have in common in the immune system,IHXL aims to speed up the development of better diagnostics and treatments thatcan work for multiple diseases at once.

"Disease-overarching research has gained real momentum over the past years. Within IHXL, we ensure that expertise, results and infrastructures are shared across a wide range of therapeutic fields, as well as between the different types of stakeholders active within IHXL. This growing momentum allows us to work towards our long-term goals and ensures that this approach leads more quickly to better diagnostics and treatments, for more patients at once." - Prof. dr. Jolanda de Vries

IHXL builds on threepublic-private partnerships that started in 2016 and continues this course witha long-term strategy running to 2040. Currently several active researchprojects are connected, all contributing to these shared goals: the IH-Seedproject, which carries earlier findings forward towards application; the ImmuneHealth-4-Allprogramme, which funds new research into diagnostics and treatments; andthe Meta-Immunotypes project, which provides insight into shared anddisease-specific features of the immune system across different IMIDs.Together, these initiatives contribute to IHXL's ultimate goal: better immunehealth for all patients with an IMID, now and in the future.

Would you like to contribute to ImmuneHealthXL, forexample by offering your proffessional expertise, financial funds or contributeas a patient-representative? Please contact us!