Doddie Weir backs MND petition delivered to Downing St calling for more research into disease

Doddie wasn't able to be in London but sent this message

Scottish Borders rugby legend Doddie Weir has backed a petition handed in to Downing Street by Motor Neurone Disease campaigners calling for £50 million of funding for research into the disease.

The open letter, to the Prime Minister, contains fifty pages of signatures from hundreds of people and urges the government to direct the money towards targeted research over five years.

Joining campaigners at Number 10 was former assistant chief constable Chris Johnson and ex-rugby player Rob Burrow.

The letter said the government's investment of less than £5m a year into MND research was "insufficient for a disease of this nature".

It added that treatments for MND were closer than ever before, and that scientists have proposed coordinated action to accelerate treatments.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday (21 September), Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended the government's record. He said: "Last fiscal year UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) spent £15.9 million on MND research and in the previous parliament 2017-2019 we announced £20 million to support the work of medical research charities which are now being impacted by Covid."

MND, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a devastating, rapidly progressive and relatively common neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor neurones in the brain and spinal cord that connect the nervous system and muscles to enable movement of the body.

The messages from these nerves gradually stop reaching the muscles, leading them to weaken, stiffen and eventually waste.

MND affects approximately 5,000 people in the UK and the life-time risk of developing the condition is approximately one in 400.

Approximately 10% of MND cases are inherited, but the remaining 90% are caused by complex genetic and environmental interactions which are not well understood.

There is currently no known cure.