The A3BC is delighted to be part of a national collaborative group who received funding in the NHMRC MRFF 2021 Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions in Children and Adolescents grant scheme. $2.5 million has been awarded for A3BC for Kids, an Australia-wide project that aims to improve health outcomes for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), the most common chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal condition in children. Minister of Health, the Hon Greg Hunt MP announced the success as part of a $21.6M research funding announcement for juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other chronic musculoskeletal diseases in children.
The centrepiece is a clinical trial, the Childhood Arthritis Multi‑omic Predictions Improving Outcomes Nationally – Methotrexate Taper eXperiment (CHAMPION‑MTX), a national clinical trial designed to advance precision medicine in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The trial evaluates whether tapering methotrexate, compared with abrupt cessation, reduces disease flares in children with oligoarticular or seronegative polyarticular JIA who are in sustained clinically inactive or low disease activity states. By integrating clinical outcomes, patient‑reported measures, biospecimens and health economic analysis, CHAMPION‑MTX aims to guide safer, more personalised DMARD use, inform new Living Guidelines for JIA, improve outcomes for children and families, and contribute to the national A3BC biobank‑registry resource.
A large and diverse team of 25 investigators are involved with a wealth of expertise and experience across the fields of rheumatology, translational immunology, multi-omics, clinical trials, biobanking, statistics, bioinformatics, health economics and guideline/policy development. All major JIA treatment centres, along with leading public and private paediatric rheumatologists are engaged as investigators and partners across 5 states (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA) and the ACT. The project links to a wider partnership through the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group and has the support of leading consumer advocates for JIA, including Arthritis Australia, Musculoskeletal Australia, Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia (JAFA) and Dragon Claw.
