On November 21, Defeat Duchenne Canada announced to donors, volunteers, and families who are facing Duchenne muscular dystrophy that as of 2018, Defeat Duchenne Canada has granted a cumulative total of more than $10 million to research.

For more than 20 years, Defeat Duchenne Canada has been dedicated to funding research focused on Duchenne muscular dystrophy – the most common fatal genetic disease diagnosed in childhood. Defeat Duchenne Canada began in 1995 when John Davidson pushed his son, Jesse, in his wheelchair across Ontario. Jesse was diagnosed with Duchenne in 1986 at the age of 6 years old. The Davidson family found that little research was being done at that time into this rare and devastating disease.

Today, many highly skilled research teams around the world are focused on Duchenne and they are using the latest technologies to explore fields such as gene editing and medicinal chemistry to try and develop an effective treatment, and ultimately a cure, for Duchenne.

Defeat Duchenne Canada is proud to support researchers across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In 2018, we granted more than $1.15 million, bringing our total grants over more than 20 years to $10 million. These grants have resulted in significant advancements in Duchenne research, such as:

• Increased life expectancy – many young men with Duchenne live until their mid-20’s, and some even into their 30’s.
• Better standard of care – many boys with Duchenne are prescribed steroids such as deflazacort or prednisone to help slow the loss of muscle function
• Increased number of clinical trials allowing boys to have access to leading-edge treatments, many of which prolong ambulation, improve cardiovascular function, and provide crucial data to researchers and pharmaceuticals who are working to bring treatments to the market.

Defeat Duchenne Canada thanks all those who have supported research over the last two decades. We celebrate the significant accomplishments made in Duchenne research, and acknowledge that there is still much more to do. The “journey” continues until a cure is found.

Cliquez ici to watch our special announcement video.

Cliquez ici to see updates from some of the researchers funded by Defeat Duchenne Canada.