18 December 2024 News
The MND Association welcomes today’s announcement from the MND-SMART team confirming the drug amantadine will continue to be evaluated as part of the MND-SMART platform trial. Studies suggest amantadine could reduce abnormal clumping of proteins in cells, which is thought to play a role in the onset and progression of MND.
Independent committees have looked at the latest data for amantadine at an interim analysis and said no safety concerns were identified. They also congratulated the trial sites on impressive recruitment and data integrity.
The MND Association is one of the funders of MND-SMART, announcing in June 2023 a commitment of £500,000 towards a £2.5 million investment in MND-SMART alongside MND Scotland.
This pioneering clinical trial, which started recruiting in February 2020, is designed to speed up the search for new and effective medicines that can stop, slow or reverse the progression of motor neurone disease (MND).
To date, MND-SMART has randomised nearly 900 people with MND across 22 sites in all four UK home nations. MND-SMART is forward thinking in its approach and design, allowing multiple drug treatments to be tested at the same time, speeding up progress and reducing the number of people with MND who would be assigned to a ‘placebo’ group.
MND-SMART has started with ‘repurposed’ drugs which are already approved for use in other conditions. This means all the safety testing and development work has already been done, saving time and money.
MND-SMART has also confirmed the launch of a fourth arm in Edinburgh in January 2025.
The trial is based at the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research at the University of Edinburgh and is open to the vast majority of people living with MND across the UK.
We’re very pleased to learn amantadine is to be continued, that the drug is not having any adverse effects. We look forward to the full trial results when they become available and are delighted to be contributing to the continued development of MND-SMART which widens access to clinical trials for people with MND. This would not be possible without the support from those who have generously donated to the MND Association. The hope is that through continuing public support, collaboration and partnership working, we will find effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for this devastating disease.