New trial centre for MND-SMART opens in Dundee

August 2020: The MND drugs trial has today opened to participants in Tayside - the trial’s second UK centre.

The trial will be based at the Clinical Research Centre at Ninewells hospital in Dundee and will welcome participants from across the NHS Tayside region.

The first MND-SMART trial centre opened in Edinburgh at the beginning of March this year at the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, part of the University of Edinburgh.

People who have already registered interest in the trial through www.mnd-smart.org and who live in the NHS Tayside region, will be contacted by the Dundee trial team over the coming months to discuss taking part.

“We have been working for some time with the organisers of MND-SMART. I am delighted that Tayside is now the second centre in the UK to recruit patients into this groundbreaking trial. MND is a devastating diagnosis to receive and our current treatments have only limited benefit. The MND-SMART trial now offers a real opportunity to assess alternative drugs which may greatly benefit people living with this condition.”

Dr Ian MorrisonConsultant Neurologist and Lead for Motor Neurone Disease in Tayside

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.

Since the announcement of the trial’s launch in January this year, over 1000 people with MND from across the UK have registered their interest in taking part.

“There is very little hope when you receive an MND diagnosis, but this new clinical trial offers some optimism. I hope the discoveries from this research will benefit people like me in years to come and bring about an improvement in quality of life.”

David Smith from Scone, who is living with MND

View our short film celebrating the launch.

This article was published on: Tuesday, 11 August, 2020