21 December 2011
Action for M.E. welcomes today’s announcement by the Medical Research Council (MRC) that more than £1.6 million has been awarded for biomedical research into M.E.
Sir Peter Spencer, Chief Executive, Action for M.E., said, "We are delighted that the MRC has made this commitment to M.E. research, not least because the pilot studies we are presently considering for funding ourselves will complement the MRC’s investment."
The MRC and Action for M.E. have been working within an M.E. Expert Group, to drive forward high-quality biomedical research into M.E., following a research summit organised by the two organisations in November 2006.
Sir Peter adds: "The five chosen studies will fill important gaps in our current scientific understanding of an illness that devastates the lives of 250,000 men, women and children in the UK – but they can only be the beginning. A very much larger research programme is urgently needed to develop treatments that are much more curative than the ‘moderately effective’ therapies currently available. M.E. has been neglected for far too long."
Pilot studies already funded by Action for M.E. have led to the creation of the National Outcomes Database and the setting up of a co-funded UK Biobank for M.E. Action for M.E. is to fund two further pilot studies, which will be announced in May.
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