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CIMA and patient care

CIMA
Interdisciplinary Clinical Centre
for Autoimmune Diseases

CIMA is a healthcare and research centre focused on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Le CIMA

An essential multidisciplinary centre

The Interdisciplinary Clinical Centre for Autoimmune Diseases (CIMA) brings together clinical and research teams and reference centres working in close collaboration to serve patients.

As a centre of excellence for the implementation of cutting-edge technologies, CIMA is responsible for:

Optimized patient care.
National recruitment of patients for therapeutic trials and cohorts.

An attractive centre, CIMA ensures high visibility for the medical teams at Montpellier University Hospital.

As a centre for transferring research into medicine CIMA facilitates the use of knowledge in biotherapies and immunotherapies.

This transfer of research is linked to:

National health biology infrastructures (ECELLFRANCE and INGESTEM) renewed as part of the France 2030 Plan.
FAI2R, the health sector for rare autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases.

As an interdisciplinary centre, CIMA is involved in the monitoring of patients with inflammatory autoimmune diseases (lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, rare genetic diseases, autoinflammatory disorders, neuroimmunology, chronic skin diseases with an immune component).

Contact

CIMA

Hôpital Saint Éloi
80 avenue Augustin Fliche
34295 Montpellier – France

Objectives

CIMA aims to decipher, understand and treat patients through several objectives

Clinical centre research objectives

Map the immune profile of autoimmune diseases and identify biomarkers.
Identify relevant targets in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and erythematosus lupus.
Integrate modelling and artificial intelligence to identify cellular interactions.
Use digital technology to stratify patients, organise their follow-up and personalise biotherapies.
Develop innovative platforms for therapeutic RNA, in situ reprogramming and biomolecule design.

Care objectives

Establish unique and rich cohorts, the foundation of research work.
Facilitate access to clinical trials and new innovative therapies.
Accelerate the development of biotherapies with clinical phases in autoimmune diseases.
Provide expertise on the management of autoimmune diseases (multidisciplinary consultation meetings).

Research training objectives

Adapt healthcare provision to innovation and the emergence of biotherapies and immunotherapies in the field of autoimmune diseases.
Continue to develop the outsourcing of clinical immunology activities.
Position our institution as a leader in these activities.
Assess and promote access to innovation in close collaboration with the IRMB research and innovation centre.
Accelerate the IHU Immun4Cure scientific project.

Activities

Provide healthcare and research services enabling the administration and monitoring of innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases

CIMA will include a specialised outpatient care unit that will enable the safe administration and monitoring of innovative therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, located close to the CARTIGEN research centre and the Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy.

The institute will offer the following care and research services :

Expert consultations and multidisciplinary meetings will be offered to discuss complex cases using biological approaches (genetics, immunology, etc.).
An ‘autoimmunity emergency’ Scientific Committee will be set up to provide rapid access to specialist advice. This will enable patients to be referred to organ specialists or to organise optimised patient care.
A major research project will be launched with the creation of well-defined cohorts (n=1,000 patients).
We estimate the need for immunotherapies at 20 patients per week from 2025 onwards, with a gradual increase as technical advances are made.

Le centre d’immunothérapie et de thérapie cellulaire des maladies auto-immunes et inflammatoires (CIMA) nécessite un espace avec 2 lits médicalisés de jour dédiés, 2 boxes de consultation et des bureaux de soignants (médecin, ARC, secrétaires, IDE, AS) , une salle de réunion de l’équipe médicale (RCP) des 2024 sur 2 sites (St Eloi et Lapeyronie).

Patient profiles

Patient pathways

After giving their consent, patients with autoimmune diseases will be offered inclusion in cohorts. Depending on opportunities, they may benefit from clinical research protocols. Follow-up will be carried out in partnership with specialist partner departments. Recruitment will be national, facilitated by reference centres and patient associations.

We have identified three typical patient pathways:

Cohort pathway: consent, inclusion, sampling, case report form (CRF), annual visit and in the event of flare-ups.
Expert care pathway: Patients with complex autoimmune diseases or severe progressive forms will benefit from multidisciplinary consultations (imaging, biopsy, phenotyping, etc.) and, if necessary, a day hospital assessment.
Clinical trial pathway: Selected patients will be included in therapeutic protocols, either promoted by the University Hospital or by industry.