Harrison's Fund is pleased to share this update on an important neuromuscular research programme at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. Through our £236k investment grant, alongside GOSH, GOSH Charity, and Duchenne UK, and led by Professor Francesco Muntoni, the hospital's neuromuscular research team has been developed and expanded to involve 8 personnel including clinical research fellows, research physiotherapists and a clinical trial coordinator.

This funding has been essential in building research capacity for a world leading programme. Having the staff in place has allowed for the assessment of new studies, with no studies being turned away since the funding was implemented, whereas in the preceding 2 years ten studies had been turned down.

This has meant that more eligible children could be enrolled in the ongoing studies and more than double the number of patients have been involved since the funding was implemented- a total of 139 patients for the 2016-2017 period compared to just 63 in the year prior.

Additionally, the morale of the medical team has been very positively affected by the better balanced work pressure, reflected also in improved patients' experience, with highly positive feedback from families regarding this new initiative. It is expected that these studies will become fully sustainable through the income for the neuromuscular team, which has increased from £180k in 2015/16 to £640k in 2016/17.

We are very proud to be a part of this important project to help those effected by Duchenne.