The Myotubular Trust has recently joined forces with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Sparks, the children’s medical research charity to co-fund a clinical trial, following a joint research grant call in 2019.
Studies funded by Myotubular Trust grants between 2014 and 2016, discovered that Tamoxifen, an anti-cancer drug, can significantly improve the symptoms associated with x-linked myotubular myopathy. Tamoxifen also has the benefit of having low side effects in both adults and children. It is not costly, is widely available and is already being taken safely by children for a range of other conditions.
The aim of the grant award is to prepare for and run a clinical trial to test how well Tamoxifen works in improving motor and respiratory function. The trial will be led by Dr Giovanni Baranello, and Professor Francesco Muntoni, at the University College London (UCL) Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. If the study is successful, it could provide the first widely available therapy for myotubular myopathy, either as a stand alone treatment for patients not eligible for gene therapy or other treatments, or as a valuable additional treatment.
Funding the preparation
New research grants take time to get up and running, particularly when they involve the complexity of setting up a clinical trial team. Therefor Myotubular Trust has already made a second, separate grant to the great Ormond Street Hospital research team. This grant funds a clinical trial co-ordinator who is already working on the regulatory and ethical paperwork and processes to ensure that the trial can begin as soon as possible.
Current grant has already funded the work of identifying the dose of Tamoxifen
Before a clinical trial can begin in humans, work needs to be done to decide what dose of a drug will be both the safest to take and the most likely to work. The Myotubular Trust 2018 – 2020 grant to Dr James Dowling at Sick Kids Canada has already funded this ‘dose finding’ work, ready for the trial to begin both in the UK and in the US and Canada too.
For further information about this grant, visit the Myotubular Trust website below.
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