I think this is new: http://www.investinme.org/IIMER-Newslet-1802-01.shtml February 2018 Rituximab Trial and Research Statement Following Preliminary Phase III Rituximab Clinical trial Results from Norway Following the preliminary results which Professor Olav Mella recently publicly released from the Phase III multi-centre double-blinded placebo-controlled Rituximab Clinical Trial (see statement 21st November 2017) the charity has had discussions with advisors and researchers and has now received further communication from Dr Fluge in Norway. Invest in ME Research has issued the statement below regarding the planned UK trial. The Haukeland team will be presenting at the IIMEC13 13th International ME Conference in London on 1st June 2018 More at link.
Yes fair enough. The positive is that IIME has quite a lot of money (depending to a part if they can keep their philanthropist donation too) to plough into other British research. It's not like there's not a whole range of other areas needing funding. The problem in UK I'm guessing is who there is to fund, unless they're channelling it to the same people for different things.
I'm unclear as to how much of their remaining pot is pledges for a rtx trial rather than money that they've actually received, and whether the pledgers would now withdraw their pledges.
I guess that's what was referred to in the discussion with funders. I think they received £1-200k from a specific donor
I am impressed that they have taken the disappointment and trying to move in other more fruitful directions. The history of funding and research for this disease in the U.S. and other places is that research ideas which have been studied by means of poorly designed projects with inconclusive, even negative results, keep being funded. Ideas and institutions get stuck in a groove. So any groups that can re-organize and change direction to more promising areas are very commendable!
They say: So I guess, in theory, they should still get the funds. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.
If I was wealthy and made a pledge to fund a rtx trial, I wouldn't consider myself bound to donate that sum if a rtx trial couldn't be done, and I'd have made that clear at the time of the pledge. By 'funds', I think that IiME can really only mean 'money raised', rather than pledges.
I guess it depends who they are and what their aims are. If their special interest is ritux then maybe not. If it's research into this particular illness ..... Or maybe they'll hang on until they see what direction the next research being proposed takes.