The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), together with the Ann Theodore Foundation (ATF), has announced a new funding initiative to support research into cutaneous sarcoidosis. The program, called ATF Sarcoidosis Inhibitor of mTOR (SIM), will provide a two-year grant of up to $575,000 to independent biomedical researchers. The grant is intended to fund the design and execution of a Phase 2 clinical trial that will evaluate whether an mTOR inhibitor can be effective in treating cutaneous sarcoidosis.
This is the third sarcoidosis-focused funding program developed by the Milken Institute and ATF. Their partnership aims to address historically low investment in sarcoidosis research. Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by abnormal immune cell clusters forming in organs, most commonly affecting the lungs but also involving the skin in about one-quarter of cases. Cutaneous sarcoidosis can cause painful rashes, lesions, and subcutaneous growths.
The new program focuses on testing mTOR inhibitors due to their recent potential shown in early studies. Currently, only general anti-inflammatory drugs are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating sarcoidosis symptoms; these do not target the root causes of the condition. However, a small clinical trial conducted in 2024 found that seven out of ten participants with cutaneous sarcoidosis experienced sustained improvement after treatment with sirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor already used for other inflammatory diseases.
Since 2020, previous initiatives from this collaboration include ATF-LOMAS (Learning Opportunities in Medicine and Sarcoidosis) and ATF-BSI (Breakthrough Sarcoidosis Initiative). The latter has committed over $11 million to furthering research on this disease. Additionally, they have released a guide highlighting strategic opportunities for philanthropic involvement in advancing sarcoidosis research.
Lisa Spalding, spokesperson for the Ann Theodore Foundation, stated: "At ATF, we believe that we owe it to the sarcoidosis community to support promising research directions across all stages of development, including this timely opportunity to accelerate a potential treatment in the near term. ATF-SIM augments-but does not supplant-our parallel efforts to support early-stage biomedical research and long-term scientific community-building through two other grant programs, which will reap benefits for decades to come. We must take every possible route to improving upon day-to-day symptom management in favor of long-term symptom relief."
Applications for funding are now open until April 20, 2026 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. Grant recipients will be chosen in June 2026.
