News & Events
Prime Minister to meet MND Association to discuss backing for a World free of MND
23 July 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set for talks with the MND Association in a top level meeting on 25 July with Lembit Öpik MP, President of the MND Association, Dr Kirstine Knox, Chief Executive and Professor Chris Shaw, Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics at King's College London.
Mr Brown agreed to the meeting following a question at Prime Minister’s Questions asked by Lembit Öpik MP, whose father died of MND in 2005. Lembit and the Association have been campaigning to raise £15m for research towards a cure. The Association has already raised a substantial sum, but is determined to put the case for Government matched funding to ensure sufficient money is available to do the research needed to uncover the secrets of the disease.
The Prime Minister has already indicated his support for the aims of the Association. On 11 July, he said in the House of Commons “… As someone who has also seen people die of Motor Neurone Disease, I support the research that is being done. I will do my best to support everything that he is doing."
Lembit says: “All of us at the MND Association are very excited about the meeting, and by the willingness of Mr Brown to meet us and discuss the aims we’ve set for ourselves in seeking and finding a cure. I will be putting the case for matched Government funding for this goal. Personally, I’m sure it’s the right thing for the Government to do, and it’s good economics too, given the cost of caring for people with MND is over £240 million a year. I hope the Prime Minister will feel able to endorse this vital initiative and help us end this cruel and fatal condition for good.”
Dr Kirstine Knox, Chief Executive of the MND Association, who will also attend the meeting added: “We’re already very grateful to Mr Brown for meeting us so early in his tenure as Prime Minister. What I’m hoping for now is a breakthrough in Government funding which will help us achieve a breakthrough in treating the disease. It’s all possible, as long as we have the money. So this is going to be a very important meeting, and its outcome will largely determine the pathway from where we are today to a cure.”
Professor Chris Shaw will be outlining the nature of the disease to Mr Brown, and the ways in which he believes a cure will be discovered. The meeting will take place on Wednesday at 2.30pm, in Westminster.
Mr Brown agreed to the meeting following a question at Prime Minister’s Questions asked by Lembit Öpik MP, whose father died of MND in 2005. Lembit and the Association have been campaigning to raise £15m for research towards a cure. The Association has already raised a substantial sum, but is determined to put the case for Government matched funding to ensure sufficient money is available to do the research needed to uncover the secrets of the disease.
The Prime Minister has already indicated his support for the aims of the Association. On 11 July, he said in the House of Commons “… As someone who has also seen people die of Motor Neurone Disease, I support the research that is being done. I will do my best to support everything that he is doing."
Lembit says: “All of us at the MND Association are very excited about the meeting, and by the willingness of Mr Brown to meet us and discuss the aims we’ve set for ourselves in seeking and finding a cure. I will be putting the case for matched Government funding for this goal. Personally, I’m sure it’s the right thing for the Government to do, and it’s good economics too, given the cost of caring for people with MND is over £240 million a year. I hope the Prime Minister will feel able to endorse this vital initiative and help us end this cruel and fatal condition for good.”
Dr Kirstine Knox, Chief Executive of the MND Association, who will also attend the meeting added: “We’re already very grateful to Mr Brown for meeting us so early in his tenure as Prime Minister. What I’m hoping for now is a breakthrough in Government funding which will help us achieve a breakthrough in treating the disease. It’s all possible, as long as we have the money. So this is going to be a very important meeting, and its outcome will largely determine the pathway from where we are today to a cure.”
Professor Chris Shaw will be outlining the nature of the disease to Mr Brown, and the ways in which he believes a cure will be discovered. The meeting will take place on Wednesday at 2.30pm, in Westminster.
Contact:
Sarah Fitzgerald
Head of Communications
01604 611840/07831 349382
sarah.fitzgerald@mndassociation.org
01604 611840/07831 349382
sarah.fitzgerald@mndassociation.org
Notes to editors
Motor neurone disease is a rapidly progressing disease of the brain and spinal cord. MND leaves people locked in a failing body, unable to move, walk or talk. It is fatal. There is no effective diagnostic test. There is no effective treatment and there is currently no cure. Half of people with MND die within 14 months of diagnosis. Five people a day die from the disease in the UK and MND kills 100,000 people throughout the world every year.
The MND Association’s Research Foundation is committed to raising the funds needed to support national and international research efforts to end MND.
Funds raised by the Research Foundation will drive science forward, so that a cure can be found and MND will be beaten. Until that day comes, the Research Foundation is equally committed to funding research that improves the lives of people living with MND.
The MND Association’s Research Foundation is committed to raising the funds needed to support national and international research efforts to end MND.
Funds raised by the Research Foundation will drive science forward, so that a cure can be found and MND will be beaten. Until that day comes, the Research Foundation is equally committed to funding research that improves the lives of people living with MND.
