Letter calling for increased MND research funding to be delivered to Downing Street

An open letter urging the government to better fund motor neurone disease (MND) research will be handed in at Downing Street later today.

Signed by hundreds of people with MND, the letter requests that the government issue £50m into targeted research over five years.

While the government has said it is working on boosting studies, the letter argues that the current investment of under £5 million each year was “insufficient for a disease of this nature”.

Among those delivering in the letter in-person, will be former assistant chief constable Chris Johnson and ex-rugby players Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir.

MND is a degenerative disease that impacts the function of the brain and nerves. There is currently no known cure.

While the condition currently has no known cure, the letter emphasised that said life-saving treatments were “closer than ever before”.