19 June 2023 Research
The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association has committed £500,000 to the UK’s largest MND clinical drug trial, MND-SMART. The innovative trial design tests medicines that are already approved as treatments for other diseases in the UK.
The Association’s funding is in partnership with MND Scotland which has contributed a further £2 million bringing a combined investment from both charities of £2.5 million.
The trial aims to speed up the search for new and effective medicines that can stop, slow or reverse the progression of MND. The design of MND-SMART allows for multiple drug treatments to be tested at the same time, speeding up progress and reducing the number of people with MND who would be assigned to a ‘placebo’ group.
MND-SMART has started with ‘repurposed’ drugs which are already approved for use in other conditions. This means all the safety testing and development work has already been done, saving time and money. Testing started in 2020 with two drugs, trazodone and memantine. In April 2023, a third drug called amantadine was added.
The trial is designed to run continuously for years to come, creating lasting MND clinical trial infrastructure throughout the UK. This investment from the MND Association and MND Scotland will pave the way for new potential treatments to be added to the trial.
The trial is led by the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research at the University of Edinburgh and is open to people living with MND across the UK. More than 500 participants have been recruited at 20 trial sites across the UK, in conjunction with the NHS.
We are delighted to be contributing to the continued development of the MND-SMART clinical trial platform. We are pleased that our funding will help towards aiding the clinical testing of potential new therapies. None of this would be possible without the support from those who have generously donated to the MND Association. The hope is that through continuing public support, collaboration and partnership working, we will find effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for this devastating disease.
Dr Brian Dickie MBE, Director of Research at the MND Association
Read our research blog and MND-SMART clinical trial page to find out more.