MND-SMART launches in Inverness

The new MND-SMART trial centre will be based at the Raigmore hospital in Inverness. It will welcome participants to the study from across the NHS Highland region.

Dr Javier Artal is the Consultant Neurologist leading the study at the new Centre.

Centres for the MND-SMART trial are already open in Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, Salford, Aberdeen and Southampton.

People with MND who have registered online interest in the trial, and who live in the NHS Highland region, will be contacted by the trial team over the coming months to discuss taking part. People do not need to register again if they have already signed up on www.mnd-smart.org.

“MND is a chronic progressive condition and there are many unmet needs regarding effective therapies able to modify the natural history of the disease. The Neurology department at NHS Highlands and the Clinical Trial Research Unit at the Health Science Centre have joined efforts to help people with MND in the Highlands and to offer the possibility of participating in this ambitious clinical trial project.”

MND-SMART is a pioneering clinical trial in its reach and design that launched in January 2020. The trial is recruiting hundreds of people living with MND across the UK to take part in tests of potential treatments.

Unlike typical clinical trials which test a single treatment at a time, MND-SMART is testing multiple drugs and so aims to speed up the time it takes to find medicines that can slow, stop, or reverse the progression of, MND.

Ensuring the safety of people taking part in MND-SMART is the trial team’s highest priority. The trial sponsor and local research and development teams have carefully reviewed the impact of Covid-19 and have provided clear guidance that recruitment to MND-SMART may continue in line with the ongoing delivery of essential healthcare. The pandemic will however, have an impact on the pace of recruitment to the trial.

The trial has been developed by people with MND and clinical trial experts from across the UK. The study is led by the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research at the University of Edinburgh.

In Scotland, the study is being supported by NHS Research Scotland Neuroprogressive and Dementia research network, who have over a decade of experience in running clinical trials across Scotland. 

MND-SMART is funded by the Euan MacDonald Centre, substantial private donations, MND Scotland and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.