FNIH Autoimmune Disease Research Collaboration Expands, Adds Scleroderma
The expansion broadens efforts to find common and unique disease pathways across autoimmune conditions, potentially leading to better treatments
NORTH BETHESDA, Md., July 13, 2026 — Finding better treatments for autoimmune diseases starts with understanding what goes wrong inside the body. By creating detailed maps of the cells and molecules involved in disease, researchers can gain new insights into the biological pathways that drive inflammation, immune dysfunction and tissue damage. To accelerate work in this area, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) today announced an expansion of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases (AMP® AIM)program.
Managed by the FNIH, AMP AIM is a research collaboration that brings together the resciences companies, foundations, and patient groups. Launched in 2021, AMP AIM has supported research to uncover the underlying mechanisms of autoimmune disease and identify potential new targets for diagnostic tools and therapies
“The expanded initiative reflects a growing commitment across public, private, academic, and patient communities to accelerate progress in autoimmune disease research, which together affect more than 15 million Americans,” said Meghan Pennini, Director, Translational Science, Inflammation and Immunity at the FNIH. “By using advanced tools to study cells and molecules, this program will help us better understand both the shared and unique biological processes that drive different autoimmune diseases.”
The AMP AIM expansion adds scleroderma — a painful and often disabling disease that can affect both the skin and internal organs — to a research portfolio that already includes rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjögren’s disease and psoriatic diseases. This addition will allow investigators to draw more cross-disease comparisons and further map involved cells and molecules to help identify new targets for diagnostics and therapies for people with autoimmune diseases
The National Scleroderma Foundation and the Scleroderma Research Foundation join the program’s four original patient advocacy partners, ensuring that perspectives of individuals with lived experience remain central to the research process and that scientific priorities align with patient needs. Many affected individuals live with multiple chronic conditions that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. Existing treatments are often not curative and may carry significant side effects. These diseases disproportionately affect women and create a substantial economic burden, with annual healthcare costs exceeding $100 billion in the United States alone.
To support this expansion, program partners have committed more than $9 million in new funding, boosting the original $62 million initially invested in AMP AIM. The project evolved from an earlier initiative, AMP Rheumatoid Arthritis/Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
About the Accelerating Medicines Partnership
Launched in 2014 and managed by the FNIH, the AMP program brings together the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, biomedical and life science companies, nonprofits, patient-focused groups, and other organizations to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments. Using cutting-edge scientific approaches and broad sharing of research data, all AMPs seek to improve understanding of disease pathways, facilitate better selection of targets for drug development, and streamline processes for bringing new treatments to patients. To learn more about AMP, visit fnih.org/AMP.
About the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
The FNIH builds public-private partnerships that connect leading biomedical scientists at the National Institutes of Health with their counterparts in life sciences companies, academia, patient organizations, foundations, and regulatory agencies (including the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency). Through team science, the FNIH solves complex health challenges and accelerates breakthroughs for patients, regardless of who they are or what health threats they face. The FNIH contributes to the development of new therapies, diagnostics, and potential cures; advances global health; and helps train the next generations of scientists. Established by Congress to support the mission of the NIH, the FNIH is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
