A new initiative designed to speed up the process of bringing treatments to patients with neuromuscular diseases like Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) has been formally launched in Paris.
Translational Research in Europe - Assessment and Treatment of Neuromuscular Diseases (TREAT-NMD) is a European Union funded Network of Excellence that finally got underway on January 1st 2007 after more than two years of lobbying and preparatory work. The EU is putting ten million Euros into the project over five years, with the partner organisations contributing a further ten million Euros.
Scientists in the new network will work closely with doctors to test and apply new research into rare inherited disorders, in order to develop new ways of looking after patients with conditions like SMA and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Close links with drug companies will also be further developed to advance potential treatments and cures.
The co-ordination centre is based in the Institute of Human Genetics in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, led by Professors Kate Bushby and Volker Straub. The network brings together 21 partner organisations, including doctors, researchers, charities and private companies, based throughout 11 European countries. The Jennifer Trust, through its membership of SMA Europe, the umbrella group for European SMA charities, will be involved at all levels of the project.
Richard Green, Chief Executive of the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, said:
"This is good news for people affected by SMA. It puts the condition at the heart of European wide research into neuromuscular diseases. It is cooperation on this scale that really does bring a breakthrough in the treatment of rare diseases like SMA that little bit closer."
Neuromuscular disorders affect around 200,000 people in Europe. The term refers to a large group of conditions that affect either the muscles themselves, or the nerves controlling the muscles. Most conditions result in chronic long term disability and early death may eventually result from respiratory or cardiac failure.
For more information contact Richard Green on 01789 267 520 or 07960 941070, or by e-mail at and see the web site http://www.treat-nmd.eu. | 
