After 30 hours of live television, the AFM-Telethon managed to collect more than 80 million euros in donations. A mobilization that continues all week.
The 30th edition of the Telethon is a success. Around 3 a.m., at the end of the 30 hours of live broadcast on France televisions, more than 80 million euros in pledges were collected, said the AFM Telethon. “An exceptional generosity” which slightly exceeds that of last year, rejoices the association.
As every year, the mobilization continues. The 3637 and the site telethon.fr remain open this Sunday and the whole week to come to collect thousands more donations in favor of research on rare genetic diseases. Pathologies which concern more than 3 million French people.
In 2015, 94 million euros in donations were collected. A fine result despite the dozens of demonstrations that had to be canceled due to the attacks of November 13. In the mid-2000s, the 100 million euro mark was regularly exceeded. A record that the AFM-Telethon hopes to achieve once again.
Considerable medical progress
For 3 decades, the generosity of the French has enabled considerable progress in the fight against rare, incurable genetic diseases. In the early 1990s, Genethon researchers published the first maps of the human genome. A world first which has enabled research teams from all over the world to identify more than 6,000 genes, and to put a name on many diseases.
These discoveries have made it possible to develop innovative therapies and launch clinical trials. Studies that are now leading to concrete results. Gene therapy, for example, has made it possible to restore the immune defenses of bubble babies. “About sixty children around the world have now found a normal life”, welcomes the association. Children with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a significant bone marrow dysfunction, today have hope for a cure and can have an almost normal childhood. Considerable progress has also been made in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a neuromuscular disease, or progeria that causes accelerated aging.
The era of industrialization is coming
“A new generation of researchers, some of whom were not even born 30 years ago, are rising to the challenge of making what was inaccessible possible. This 30th Téléthon launches the generation of finders ”, declared Laurence Thiennot-Herment, president of AFM-Téléthon.
And a new stage opens for the association. That of the industrialization of these drug candidates. With YposKesi, a platform dedicated to the production of gene and cell therapy, AFM-Telethon hopes to be able to produce and market these treatments in 5 to 10 years.
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