Thank you for contacting me about funding for motor neurone disease research.

I sympathise profoundly with anyone who is affected by MND.  I have recently be contacted by a number of constituents who’s lives have been effected by MND.

Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and MND Scotland, as well as everyone else who has campaigned so tirelessly on this crucial issue.

I know this issue is of great concern to so many people throughout the country and across Sheffield. Recently the UK Parliament petition on this issue received over 110,000 signatures, highlighting the significant public support for increased funding.

I absolutely agree with the calls of the #United2EndMND campaign for £50 million of funding over five years for a translational research institute for MND. MND research is key to finding a cure and improving treatments for this terrible disease. And if we can move beyond single centres and small collaborations to a large-scale, collaborative and co-ordinated approach to research, we have the opportunity to end the appalling suffering caused by MND and transform people’s lives.

With this in mind there is a clear and unequivocal moral argument in favour of providing increased funding and support for MND research.

Likewise a translational research institute on MND will also help to deliver better value for money in treating MND patients, provide opportunities for the UK research and pharmaceutical sector and potentially provide valuable results when it comes to treating other degenerative disorders such as dementia.

I can assure you that I will continue to support calls to bring together funding into an MND research institute to implement rigorous clinical research and sustainable MND trials programmes, linking up with the NHS, to provide infrastructure to accelerate treatments and bring them to market in a partnership between our research and industry, and support world-leading drug discoveries and development.