The year 2020 has been tough for everyone, especially the MCDS-Therapy team, as we made the difficult decision to halt our clinical trial earlier in the year due to the spread of COVID-19. Since that disheartening day, we have been working hard behind the scenes to develop plans for the re-opening of the trial and put in place contingencies for future lockdowns. After months of hard work and dedication, we are pleased to say that we have officially relaunched the MCDS-Therapy clinical trial at both our UK sites!
The Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust clinical trial site reopened in October for our first patient visit since March and will be continuing to operate for the foreseeable future. The Newcastle site has also reopened and will be seeing patients very soon!
Over the last few months, we have gone to extreme lengths to protect our patients’ health and safety during COVID-19. Ethics have reviewed and approved the changes we have made to the protocol to mitigate for COVID-19 delays and to ensure that our patients are kept as safe as possible. We’re thrilled that we are now able to get our vital research moving again during this difficult time.
As if that isn’t exciting enough, we have also moved onto the next stage of the clinical trial. With some of our UK patients finishing the baseline stage, we are pleased to tell you that the first patient has been dosed with carbamazepine this month! The team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, led by Dr. Melita Irving, were the first to treat a MCDS patient with carbamazepine, with more patients set to follow and receive the drug in the coming months. This is a huge step for the consortium and the MCDS community.
This new phase of the trial is the dosing stage. It will help to confirm the appropriate dose of carbamazepine to give to patients before we focus on proving that the drug is an effective and safe treatment for MCDS. We couldn’t be more excited about the prospect of having a viable treatment for Metaphyseal Chondrodysplasia Type Schmid after 25 years of waiting for one to appear.
Thank you to all of our trial participants and supporters for standing by us as we worked behind the scenes to advance the trial safely. We look forward to bringing you more updates soon so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
