Neale Daniher’s FightMND to support new clinical trials with $13.4m funding boost

Footy great Neil Daniher’s FightMND will help fund two new clinical trials, two drug developments and 15 research projects locally and overseas.

Eight Victorian research teams will share $5m in grants from the charity established by AFL great Neale Daniher to help fight Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The former Essendon player and Melbourne Football Club Coach co-founded FightMND in 2014, a year after he was diagnosed with the disease. On Wednesday, it will announce an investment totalling $13.4m in grants to 25 unique MND research projects across Australia and overseas.

The 2022 projects include two new clinical trials, two drug development projects and 15 research projects.

“A heartfelt thank you to everyone who continues to donate and buy Big Freeze beanies, year after year,” Mr Daniher said.

“It’s exciting to think that one of these projects could lead to the next breakthrough in the fight to find better treatments and a cure for MND.

Neale Daniher with Dr Bec Sheean, Research Directorat FightMND and Dr Taide Wang from the University of Melbourne.

“It will take people to defeat this Beast, and we can’t do it without the ongoing support of the Australian public.”

Dr Taide Wang from the University of Melbourne is one of six recipients of a research fellowship from the charity. These fellowships help provide important funding to future science stars, such as Dr Wang, with a focus on MND.

Bec Sheean, the research director of FightMND, said the question she is most often asked is how far away is a cure?

“We don’t know, but the momentum has never been stronger,” Dr Sheean said. “There is more research, trials and drugs in the pipeline than ever before and researchers now have a much better understanding of the disease process.”

She said FightMND was investing in a broad range of research.

“We know that MND is not specific to Australia, it is a global disease, which is why we fund research internationally,” Dr Sheean said.

Dr Sheean said FightMND was focused on a treatment and finding a cure for MND, but it was also more broadly looking at understanding the cause of the disease.

She says Mr Daniher’s contribution to finding a cure for MND is immeasurable. “What Neale brings is a focus to what we are trying to do as an organisation, why we exist and the connection to the cause,” she said.

Neale Daniher, co-founder of FightMND, pictured with his daughter, Bec Daniher and granddaughter Billie Daniher. Picture: Daniel Pockett

“Any of these projects could have potential to be the big breakthrough in MND and they come back to Neale sharing his story and his honesty about what MND has cost him.”

Dr Sheean said that by funding the best, high-quality research and connecting the world’s most innovative MND minds, FightMND is playing a lead role in the global fight to find a cure for this devastating disease.

“This year’s funded projects look at MND from different angles – to understand the causes, support early diagnosis and track how a person’s disease is progressing as well as projects on developing better tools for studying MND in the laboratory,” she said.

She said every project funded by the charity underwent a rigorous review process by global researchers before the recommended projects were presented to the charity’s board and research subcommittees, of which Mr Daniher was a member.

“He always asks is it research that is going to be a way to get to the answer. Importantly, he wants to know if it is focused on the person with MND and if there is a sense of urgency.”

Wednesday’s announcement brings the total raised by the charity to more than $76m.

Originally published as Neale Daniher’s FightMND to support new clinical trials with $13.4m funding boost