Join us in congratulating the Research Team at the Southampton General Hospital trial centre for the incredible achievement of randomising >50 participants at site. Since opening to recruitment in early 2021, the team Led by Principal Investigator Dr Pinto, have worked hard to promote equity of access to MND-SMART whilst maintaining a high level of data integrity and excellent oversight of participant safety.
A note from Research Nurses Rolan, Alida and Kat:
We are incredibly proud to be one of 23 centres across the UK offering the MND-SMART trial to people living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). To date, we’ve reached an exciting milestone — 50 participants recruited — and we remain actively engaged in pre-screening those who have expressed interest in taking part.
Since the introduction of the new comparison arm this spring — Tacrolimus versus Placebo — we’ve successfully recruited our first participant and look forward to screening more in our dedicated MND-SMART clinic in weeks to come.
Working on this study has been an extraordinary and rewarding experience for the Neurodegenerative Research Team at University Hospital Southampton. We’re especially grateful for the ongoing positive feedback from participants, many of whom have expressed how much they value being directly involved in a trial that offers hope.
This achievement would not have been possible without the guidance and support of the Trial Office in Edinburgh. Their collaboration, combined with the hard work and dedication of our team, has allowed us to deliver world-class research that meets the needs of those living with MND in Hampshire and beyond.
As demand continues to grow for innovative, multi-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials like MND-SMART, we remain committed to expanding access to promising treatment options and advancing research that truly makes a difference.
We also want to express our appreciation to all of the clinical trials assistants/practitioners, research nurses, clinicians and pharmacy teams who work together to deliver MND-SMART in 23 sites across all 4 UK nations. Finally we want to thank all MND-SMART participants and their support networks for their invaluable commitment and contributions to our research.
Register your interest in participating in MND-SMART
MND-SMART is led by the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research at the University of Edinburgh. The trial is a flagship project of the UK Dementia Research Institute.
The trial is funded by the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research, MND Scotland, MND Association, the Alan Davidson Foundation, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and Baillie Gifford.