LifeArc. (2/27/18). "Press Release: LifeArc Announces £5M Support for Rare Disease Research". London.

	Region	United Kingdom (GB)
	Organisation	LifeArc (GB)
	Organisation 2	Zyme Communications Ltd.
	Product	DRUGS, ORPHAN
	Product 2	drug discovery
	Person	Tipper, Liezel (MRC Technology 201507 PR + Communications Manager)
	Person 2	Odgaard, Katie (Zyme Communications 201108 Senior Account Manager before College Hill Life Sciences)

LifeArc®, the medical research charity, today announced its Philanthropic Fund will award £5M in grants to support medical research projects focused on rare diseases. The grants scheme was announced at the Drug Repurposing for Rare Diseases Conference 2018.

In June 2017 LifeArc pledged to invest up to £500 million over the next five years to generate, fund and champion innovations to improve the lives of patients suffering from diseases that present the greatest challenges to medical research. As part of this the Philanthropic Fund will support rare disease research with the £5M investment. Rare diseases have historically been difficult to address. These grants should allow researchers to push the boundaries by capitalising on recent scientific advances, including new therapeutic technologies such as gene editing.

Grants will be allocated to projects that demonstrate robust science and a credible route to patients. LifeArc will now be able to support even more work with partners who have an interest in rare diseases, including charities and other medical research funders.

Catriona Crombie, Philanthropic Fund Manager, LifeArc, said: “LifeArc has a history of supporting the delivery of transformational therapeutics, and we are always looking for new ways to progress promising science into therapeutics and diagnostics. Rare diseases affect approximately one in twenty people worldwide. Treatment options are often limited, and many patients remain undiagnosed. With this fund we are aiming to accelerate scientific breakthroughs to deliver new medicines for patients with these conditions.”

It is anticipated that the grant awards will be made from summer 2018. For further information, please email funds@lifearc.org.

Notes to editors

Media contacts

Katie Odgaard, Zyme Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 7787 502 947, Email: katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com.

Liezel Tipper, PR & Communications Manager, LifeArc
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7391 2772, Email: Liezel.Tipper@lifearc.org.

About LifeArc

LifeArc is a medical research charity with a 25 year legacy of helping scientists and organisations turn their research into treatments and diagnostics for patients.

LifeArc is pioneering new ways to turn great science into greater patient impact. It brings together a network of partners to tackle specific diseases and directly funds academic and early stage research.
So far, LifeArc’s work has helped to develop four drugs (Keytruda®, Actemra®, Tysabri® and Entyvio®) and a test for antimicrobial resistance.

www.lifearc.org Twitter @lifearc1

Record changed: 2023-06-05