2005 Scottish Parliament debate on 'a cure for ME'

[bobbler]

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: 9 Jun 2005: Scottish Parliament debates - TheyWorkForYou

I've just come across this and whilst I'm sure the existence of this project is old news to some, I couldn't be sure this was on here. And whilst it sounds faintly familiar it is always worth reminding myself of it.

I found it interesting because it covers similar chestnuts to what is going on now re: trying to sort better provision and issues over treatments and ideologies. The timing is quite interesting too given funding was obviously 'pulled' in 2005.

Can anyone add any context/detail on how close this really was to a breakthrough, and if anything/of the projects we might know of picked any of this up?


This is the 'motion debated':

That the Parliament notes with pleasure that a scientific team from Glasgow University, headed by Dr John Gow, may have discovered a remedy for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) which could be available in as little as a year; further notes that the university has already patented the genes involved as a means of diagnosing the condition quickly and cheaply; recognises that this could represent a major step forward in the treatment and cure of this debilitating disease but notes with alarm Dr Gow's concern that he is "going nowhere" because his funding has run out, and considers that the Scottish Executive should take every possible step to ensure that this work can be continued in order that the 10,000 to 20,000 ME sufferers in Scotland can play a full part in the economic and social life of their country.

and the follow quotes I've picked out:

Several years ago, the philanthropic Barclay brothers funded a research project—through the University of Glasgow—at the Southern general hospital. The project has been led by a number of eminent neurological researchers whose names are revered by ME sufferers almost as much as they are disapproved of by the establishment. Drs Behan and Chaudhuri are but two of them. Several years on and, crucially, many funding streams later, the research is close to achieving a major breakthrough in identifying both a diagnostic test and a cure for ME through the relatively new science of genetics.

In Scotland, we stand on the brink of a medical breakthrough of world-wide importance. The University of Glasgow deemed the research to be of enough significance to patent, yet we are about to lose it through—members will have guessed it—lack of funding.

Just as all those years of research, which have always been done on a shoestring budget, are about to pay off, the shoestring appears to have broken. Latterly, the project has been part funded by Scottish Enterprise. The current project leader, Dr John Gow, applied to that agency again, but the application has just been turned down. Scottish Enterprise is to fund, through the University of Glasgow's research and enterprise department, an independent company to conduct market research into ME.