Sir Gavin Williamson attended a meeting with a cross-parliamentary group set up to spread awareness of Motor Neurone Disease.
Sir Gavin, former chair of the APPG on Motor Neurone Disease, met with the group in Parliament to hear from James Smith, a young father living with MND. James spoke of the difficulties he experienced when trying to participate in drug trials for the disease, after being diagnosed at the age of 36.
Discussions revolved around difficulties in accessing new treatments, such as the medicine Toferse. This is a precision treatment for certain sufferers of MND which was developed in the UK but is currently inaccessible. The issue highlighted the hurdles that researchers, healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities, and patients must overcome during drug development stages. Alongside other parliamentarians, Sir Gavin called for questions to be put to relevant Ministers which would address these difficulties and provide more support to sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease.
MND affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time and there is a 1 in 300 chance of developing MND across a lifetime.
Sir Gavin said: “So much life-changing work and research has been dedicated to Motor Neurone Disease in recent years, and I’m pleased to see many promising trials taking place. As former chair of the APPG on MND, it’s an issue that I’ve followed closely. We must work with regulatory bodies and clinical experts to ensure that successful new drugs get to the market and can make the incredible difference they were intended for.”
The image is of Sir Gavin meeting with representatives from the Motor Neurone Disease Association in September 2021.
