Thanks to Telethon donations, 34 clinical trials are underway in humans for 26 diseases. Rare diseases which open up avenues of research for more frequent pathologies.
“The struggle of parents, the lives of children” is the slogan chosen this year by the AFM-Telethon to illustrate its 27th annual campaign of mobilizations (December 6 and 7, 2013). As every year, France Télévisions is preparing to experience a 30-hour marathon to report on the national mobilization but also on the progress of research. In 2012, AFM-Telethon’s revenue amounted to € 107.2 million, 89% of which came from public generosity. So what is the use of the money collected during the Telethon helping to advance medicine?
300 research programs funded in 2012
Since its creation in 1958, the AFM-Telethon has placed support for research and the discovery of innovative treatments at the heart of its action. The Association is today a major player in the development of biotherapies for rare diseases. But these therapies, which use genes in particular, also benefit medicine as a whole. From the 1st Telethon, thanks to the donations collected, the AFM created its own laboratory, Généthon. It is this laboratory, for example, which produced the first maps of the human genome for the international scientific community, thus enabling the discovery of hundreds of genes responsible for all kinds of diseases.
Listen to Laurence Tiennot-Herment, President of the AFM-Telethon: “ Today, there are 34 human trials involving 26 different diseases. Rare diseases, but which pave the way for therapeutic innovation for more frequent diseases.
Increasingly sophisticated and costly research
If the Telethon always needs more resources, it is also because research programs are more and more expensive. Even if since the 2000s, the first therapeutic victories appear with, for example, baby bubbles. Deprived of immune defenses, these children were successfully treated with gene therapy.
Each year, too, several research projects are abandoned for lack of resources. “Every year, you should know that we select only 15% of the projects that are proposed to us as part of our call for tenders. So more resources obviously equal more research projects supported, ”explains Laurence Tiennot-Herment.
Listen to Laurence Tiennot-Herment : ” When a team has positive results in mice, then it is time to move on to humans. But when in mice it costs a few tens of thousands of euros, in humans it is several million euros. “
Donations made within the framework of the Telethon 2013 will be dedicated to the 2014 activities of the AFM-Telethon. In 2012, AFM-Telethon’s resources amounted to 119.7 million euros, of which 81.4% was devoted to the three social missions of Healing, Helping and Communicating. More than 60 million euros were used to finance therapeutic trials, scientific calls for tenders, international programs and strategic programs, the Institute of Biotherapies for rare diseases and the Généthon Bioprod drug production center.
During the Telethon 2013, pledges will therefore be recorded by telephone (3637) and on the website. www.telethon2013.fr
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