Personalized medicine in RA

Purpose and goal

The overarching aim of NORA was to improve biomarker-based and other predictive algorithms that may enable earlier and more precise diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), to improved prediction of treatment response, disease course and outcome, and the development of digital tools and processes that enable clinical implementation of the above algorithms. NORA has delivered in all these areas; at the same time, with increasing data, insights and experiences, the ambitions have increased during the course of the project and follow-up projects has been initiated.

Expected results and effects

The work we have performed to extract and harmonise a large set of RA treatment data has resulted in several scientific publications, several presentations at international conferences, and new projects between the original partners. Moreover, the infrastructure we have created for common data storage and the analysis platform with remote access has set the scene also for new collaborations (and EU grants). We have also identified, and experienced, a large set of obstacles to transnational exchange of data and samples that we have described in a narrative review.

Planned approach and implementation

The work-package oriented approach as well as the collaboration between partners has worked well. We accrued a significant delay due to legal and administrative issues related to data access and sharing (which we have summarized in a position paper) and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but have now overcome those limitations. Also, the connection of new algorithms and technical tools for their implementation is complex and yet not completed, although we can provide preliminary examples of such implementation.