This week, Wycombe MP Steve Baker writes exclusively to Bucks Free Press readers:

Motor Neurone Disease has huge and life-limiting impacts. Back in 2019, I was approached by the local Motor Neurone Disease Association and through them learned more about this devastating disease and the support available to constituents. I became involved with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Motor Neurone Disease and I have continued to campaign for better support and research into the condition.

Through this involvement I was put in touch with the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation as some of its lead organisers are constituents living in Penn.

Research is crucial to understand the causes of MND, identify potential treatments, and help the UK consolidate its position as a world leader in this field.

Earlier this year I backed a campaign for a new Research Institute. In support of this, I have engaged with Ministers in meetings, letters, debates and parliamentary questions.

In July during a parliamentary debate I made the point that, despite limited investment, MND is one of the fastest moving sectors in UK health and biomedical research and current trials hold real promise of a licensed treatment in just a few years.

Counter-intuitively, MND, with its relatively low prevalence, is incredibly valuable to research into the more common neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. Increasingly there is interest in MND research from global pharmaceutical companies who see this as a route to also finding a treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

I am therefore delighted that last month the Government announced £50 million over five years into targeted MND research. The Prime Minister said: “We are going to throw the full weight of government, industry and civil society behind a new British-led scientific mission to transform the fight against this devastating disease.”

My congratulations go to all the local campaigners who have worked tirelessly to make this happen, and I am hopeful those with MND will soon have treatments available to them.