Craigavon is the first MND-SMART site in Northern Ireland and means that the trial is now open in all four home nations of the UK.
It also brings the total number of sites across the UK to 19.
MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, is an incurable progressive condition that causes muscle to waste away. It occurs when nerve cells called motor neurons, which send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the body’s muscles, stop working properly.
This trial is called SMART - Systematic Multi-Arm Randomised Trial – and is an innovative design designed to speed up the time it takes to find medicines that can slow, stop, or reverse the progression of, Motor Neurone Disease.
We are delighted to be able to enrol participants from across all of Northern Ireland to try and bring us one step closer to finding a treatment for MND.
Dr Raeburn Forbes, Consultant Neurologist and Principal Investigator for the MND-SMART study at Craigavon
Image: main picture - Dr Raeburn Forbes (right) is pictured with colleagues Roisin McNulty, Clinical Trials pharmacist and Fiona Thompson – Research Nurse. Inset - Sharon Bell, MND Nurse with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.
credit: Southern Health and Social Care Trust