What is WP2 about?

WP2 designs and runs the data platform that brings together clinical, imaging, and laboratory information from many centres. The team makes sure the data are standardised, secure, and ready to be used for research and future tools like iCare-RA.

What are WPs 3 and 4?

These work packages focus on ‘deep phenotyping’—a detailed look at clinical signs,

blood markers, and tissue samples. The goal is to understand how multi-drug-resistant

RA may differ from other forms of RA at many levels.

Recent milestones

• Recruitment started for a new observational cohort of people with difficult-to-treat RA.

• Standard operating procedures for sample collection are in place across all centres.
• Laboratories have begun analysing samples to look for patterns linked to treatment resistance.

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What this could change

By identifying biological ‘signatures’ of treatment resistance, researchers hope to

predict who needs a different treatment strategy sooner, instead of waiting for several

medicines to fail.

What is WP5 about?

WP5 develops a prospective, real-life observational cohort of people living with multidrug-resistant rheumatoid arthritis (MDR-RA). Unlike clinical trials, this cohort reflects everyday clinical practice. Participants are followed over time while receiving usual care, allowing researchers to observe how the disease behaves and how patients respond to different treatments in real-world settings.
WP5 also creates the MDR-RA Biomedical Resource — a unique, integrated collection of clinical data, imaging results, blood samples, and synovial tissue. This resource forms a crucial foundation for later work packages, including molecular analyses and the development and validation of the iCareRA decision-support model.

What happened this period

During the current phase of the project, WP5 has focused on setting up the cohort and ensuring that all centres work in a harmonised way:

• The study design and protocols for the PrOb-MDR-RA observational cohort have been finalised.
• Standard procedures for collecting clinical information, imaging data, blood samples, and synovial tissue have been aligned across participating sites.
• Recruitment planning is underway to enrol approximately 80 people with MDR-RA across multiple European centres.
• Close coordination with WPs 2, 3, and 4 ensures that data and samples collected in WP5 can be seamlessly integrated into the wider MDR-RA data platform and molecular analyses.

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Why this matters

People with multidrug-resistant RA are often under-represented in research, despite facing a high disease burden and many unmet needs. By carefully following patients in real-life care, WP5 helps fill this gap.

The observational cohort allows researchers to:

• Capture the full complexity of MDR-RA, including pain, fatigue, imaging findings, and treatment history.
• Link clinical outcomes with biological and molecular data, helping to explain why some treatments stop working.
• Provide high-quality data and samples that directly support the development and testing of iCareRA, with the aim of reducing trial-and-error treatment in the future.

For patients, this means that everyday experiences of living with difficult-to-treat RA are turned into knowledge that can drive more personalised, effective, and sustainable care.

What is iCare-RA?

iCare-RA is being designed as a digital tool that suggests possible treatment options based on a person’s medical data. It does not replace your doctor, but it can support more informed decisions, especially in complex multi-drug-resistant RA.

What is being tested?

Understanding costs and benefits