We are now in a position to
move forward to initiate a UK rituximab trial following our BMRMEC meeting [R3]
and IIMEC8 conference [R4].
Some more information is given below in our
FAQs
section
We invite people to support this great venture and
we have already contributed funds for this and have fundraising projects coming
online which will add to this.
If you would like to donate to this fund please see the
How to Donate options at the end of this page.
Our Plan
Our proposal for an examination and research
facility for ME [R5] included a strategy of translational biomedical research. The
university is now preparing to begin the foundation project [R6]. The UK rituximab
trial fits into this strategy perfectly.
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Announcement:
Invest in ME have been working on the possibilities of
initiating a UK clinical trial using rituximab
to treat ME patients following on from our Biomedical Research into ME Collaborative Meeting (BRMEC) on 30th May
2013 and the 8th Invest in ME conference IIMEC8) on
31st May 2013.
At these meetings Professor Olav Mella and Dr
Øystein
Fluge presented further evidence of the efficacy of rituximab
in the treatment of ME patients in Norway and it became clear
that a similar trial is needed in the UK to benefit UK ME
patients as well as provide support for the international
efforts in finding treatments for ME.
We are pleased to announce that Professor Jonathan
Edwards, Emeritus Professor of
Connective
Tissue
Medicine at University College London (UCL), has
agreed to advise the charity on all aspects of
a UK
rituximab
trial.
Professor Edwards was responsible for both the phase I and the
proof of concept phase II (NEJM 2004) studies in rheumatoid
arthritis , which formally established the validity
of B cell depletion in autoimmune disorders. It all started with
a paper called ‘Do self-perpetuating B lymphocytes drive human
autoimmune disease?’ published in Immunology in 1999 [1].
There
is no other expert in the UK who is better placed than Professor
Edwards in advising the charity in setting up a rituximab
trial to benefit ME patients.
A
plan is being formulated and Professor Edwards and the charity
are involved in discussions to establish
feasibility and
suitable
siting for the project.
At our BRMEC and IIMEC8 conference meetings we discussed with
the Norwegian researchers (Fluge and Mella) about cooperation on
this and other projects and we will be setting up further
meetings now that this plan is being progressed.
A
great deal of work necessarily needs to be made, not least of which
will be a huge effort by the charity and its supporters to raise
the funding.
The charity has a number of pledges and offers of support and we
will continue to develop more – raising the profile of this
project and raising awareness of ME.
We welcome your support.
1. Edwards JC, Cambridge G, Abrahams VM. Do self-perpetuating B
lymphocytes drive human autoimmune
disease? Immunology. 1999;97:188–196. [PMC
free article] [PubMed]
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We aim to build a fund to accomplish this
ourselves but we are happy to accept support and donations from others who have the same objectives as
Invest in ME.
IiME are also discussing with our EMEA colleagues
on ways to increase biomedical research into ME.
We are confident these projects can be performed and started
relatively quickly.
FAQS on the UK Rituximab Trial
The links below open windows with more information
Our FundRaising
We have decided to
create a separate strand to our Biomedical Research Fund which will be
explicitly used for this UK rituximab trial.
A specific fund-raising thermometer has been
created just for this project - see the image on the right. This will be updated
with the current figure raised.
The total funding requirement for this trial will
be refined as we present more details of the project and as the project
progresses. An initial target was set at £150,000 although we know that this is
likely to be less than required - but this will only be properly estimated when
the plan has been finalised.
If you feel you can support us in any way - by
fundraising, by spreading word of this, by simply letting us know that you agree
with us then we welcome that support.
ME patients and their carers, when determined, are
amongst the most resourceful around. The Let's Do It for ME campaign has
energised ME research.
You can do it - We can do it.
Let's Do It For ME!
Contact Us
This page will serve as a
starting point for the UK Rituximab Trial. We shall add more information and
develop this and other pages to describe the trial as the trial preparation
itself develops.
If you have something you want to know but don't find it here
then
email us and we'll try to answer it - although our
efforts are on making rapid progress for biomedical research and we aim to place
as much information as we can on this web site.
HOW To DONATE
Here are four ways to donate
to the Invest in ME BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH FUND - UK RITUXIMAB TRIAL
Here is the link for donations
- for a specific amount
1/
Donate once a specific amount
2/
Here is the link for donations
for a monthly donation
3/
Here is the link for donations
via JustGiving - this allows gift aid
4/
Here is the link for donations via
JustTextGiving -
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DONATE
Via JustTextGiving
using your mobile phone |
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Text RTUX66 £2 / £5 / £10 to
70070 to donate now -
e.g. text the following to
70070
RTUX66 £5
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Thank you
for helping us make this happen
FACEBOOK
Look at the special Facebook
page for this campaign -
https://www.facebook.com/events/215349901946162/
