A group of government charities and research organizations has awarded a £ 4.25 million grant to motor neurone disease (MND) experts at six UK universities to begin collaborative efforts to end MND.
The fellowship was awarded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), along with LifeArc, MND Association, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and MND Scotland.
The universities involved in the MND Collaborative Partnership (King’s College London, University of Sheffield, University of Liverpool, University College London, University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh) will gather their experience over three years to find possible solutions to the problems. . currently hinders MND research and discovers significant treatments.
MND (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) is a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and nerves, causing a weakness that progressively worsens over time. There is no cure for MND and current treatment focuses on maintaining functional capacity and managing symptoms.
The research effort will include developing better tests to measure the progression of MND and allow doctors to compare different drugs, as well as improve MND records to allow doctors to collect detailed, high-quality data on the disease and understand which patients. they are more likely to respond to the disease. a specific drug.
The members of the association will also work together to support people to participate in clinical trials more easily and develop more robust laboratory tests and disease models so that scientists can test theories about MND.
An important study will also be launched as part of the research effort, which includes 1,000 people with NDM across the UK to help better understand the progression of the disease and how people respond to new and existing treatments.
Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi, co-director of the research program and professor of Neurology and Genetics of Complex Diseases at King’s College London and director of King’s MND Care and Research Center, said: “Our aim is to discover meaningful treatments for MND. This historic funding will bring together the UK’s leading MND research centers for the first time in a coordinated national effort to find a cure.
“We now have a much better understanding of MND, so we need to take this opportunity to accelerate the development of new treatments and work together to transfer that knowledge to the clinic and help people affected by this devastating disease.”