92002E0022

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0022/02

by Elizabeth Lynne (ELDR) to the Commission

(21 January 2002)

Subject: Funding for muscular diseases

What level of funding, if any, is awarded in each of the Member States for: spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), muscular dystrophy (MD or DMD), neuromuscular diseases?

More specifically, what level of funding is targeted for: research, support or general purposes?

What type of research is financed? (i.e. management research, therapy research, cure research)

What is the level of funding, if any, for the European Alliance of Muscular Dystrophy Associations (EAMDA)?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 2002)

The Commission has no data available on the level of funding in individual Member States for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), muscular dystrophy (MD/DMD) or neuromuscular diseases.

Three projects on muscular diseases, two concerning mainly diagnostic and therapeutic research and one concerning research management, have been selected for funding within the Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources programme of the 5th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD):

- QLRT-1999-00870, Genetic resolution of myopathies: European cluster, project funding: 2,4 million;

- QLG2-1999-00660, A funtional genomics study of lysyl-tRNA synthesis as a target for the diagnosis and treatment of microbial infections and mitochndrial myopathies, project funding: 1,4 million;

- QLK3-2000-01038, Disease insights from single cell signalling, project funding: 907,312.

Several such projects have been funded in the past, under the third and fourth Framework Programmes. More detailed information on all projects can be found through search on the Cordis website http://www.cordis.lu/en/home.html.

In addition, in 2000, DG Health and Consumer Protection, granted one recent (year 2000) project entitled Muscle diseases for a prototype of rare and disabling disorders: creation of a European information network (Project No 2000/RD:10003) with 128,000. More detailed information on this project can be found on the website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph/programmes/rare/proj1_en.pdf.

EAMDA did not receive any contribution from the Commission for the last three years.