Together we can beat this disease and bring hope

IWANT to congratulate the charities, the Sunday Express and all its readers for your fantastic campaigning to fund the fight against Motor Neurone Disease.

This cruel and debilitating illness kills six people in our country every single day, with a third of those diagnosed tragically losing their lives within just a year. We cannot continue like this. So we are going to throw the full weight of government, industry and civil society behind a new British-led scientific mission to transform the fight against this devastating disease.

And I believe we can do it. We have already seen the extraordinary power and potential of British life science throughout

‘UK is a Science

Superpower’

the pandemic – from the first breakthrough treatment, dexamethasone, to the global reach of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine, saving millions of lives around the world.these achievements were not merely the product of brilliant science but also a new way of supporting it, with government funding mobilising private sector investment to inspire a seamless collaboration between our scientists, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, patients and the NHS.

So now, as we make our United Kingdom a Science Superpower, we are going to bottle this formula and apply it to the search for life-saving breakthroughs against other diseases. And there could be no better example than turbo-charging the search for new therapies and drugs that can radically change the life chances of those with MND.

So I am delighted that today the Government is wholeheartedly backing the Sunday Express campaign with £50million of new investment in scientific research, including supporting two brilliant initiatives to inspire new research and accelerate the trialling and delivery of new treatments.

Together we can turn Motor Neurone Disease from a terminal illness to a treatable condition, giving new hope to anyone diagnosed and to all their loved ones who care for them.