Doddie Weir's charity donates £165,000 to develop MND drug

The charity established by Scottish rugby legend Doddie Weir has donated £165,000 to help develop a drug which will be used for clinical trials into curing Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation has made the contribution to Glasgow-based medical research charity Funding Neuro to develop a drug prototype.

The research is being carried out by Professor Steven Gill, founder of the Functional Neurosurgery Research Group at the University of Bristol.

The initial phase of his work looked to discover if the treatment would flow to the affected motor neurons in the spinal cord after being delivered directly into the brain.

This was completed successfully last year.

The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation kick-started funding for that stage by donating £50,000 of the required £150,000.

The rest was delivered by supporters of Funding Neuro, which is helping Professor Gill raise funds for his research.

In June 2017 Doddie Weir announced he was suffering from MND.

Later that year the 61-times capped Scot launched his foundation dedicated to raising funds to investigate the causes of MND and search for a potential cure.

Doddie Weir: “We are delighted to contribute towards this important research, especially during these uncertain times.

“We recognise that research must continue and, thanks to the generosity of all our donors and contributors, we are able to continue with our commitment. We remain dedicated to searching for a cure for MND”.

Sharon Kane, chief executive of Funding Neuro, said: “We are really pleased with the generous donation from Doddie’s Foundation. It has enabled us to push ahead with the next phase without delay.

“We want to do everything we can to accelerate the research, this is a really good example of how two charities working together can make this happen.

“We hope following the next stage we will be a step closer to finding a cure for this devastating disease.