Gene Therapy – Latest News: August 2011

The Appeal to raise the funds for the gene therapy trial due to commence in spring 2012 is well underway. In this update you can read about progress of the Appeal so far, and find out about some new ways in which people can lend their support.

Where are we now?

We have been thrilled and humbled by the response to the Gene Therapy Appeal from our community supporters. We hope you will be as encouraged as we are to learn that over £200,000 has been donated by the CF community alone since our Appeal started. This figure excludes gift aid which could add a further £50,000 to this total! We do appreciate all you have done to support this Appeal - thank you. Below we've listed some of the ways in which people can continue to support our campaign, including the new, simple text donation service.

What are we doing to raise the money?

£6million is of course a huge amount to raise, and we are not expecting the CF community of friends and supporters, many of whom are living with Cystic Fibrosis themselves, to raise the full amount. However we're hopeful that the CF community will help us to raise £1million towards the £6million total by October 2011 - we're already well on the way!

We anticipate that the bulk of the funds raised will come from major donors, trusts and corporates sympathetic to our Appeal, and we have already made several major gift requests the outcomes of which are pending. We hope that the support you have already shown will demonstrate the groundswell of support behind the Appeal and galvanise the major donor appeal. Obviously securing major gifts does take a significant amount of time, and we will update you on this in due course.

In addition we have applied for a significant grant through the Medical Research Council (MRC). The outcome of this application won't be known until October, however we were extremely encouraged to learn in July that our grant application has passed the first stage of review. We will of course let you know as soon as the outcome of this is known.

How you can help

There are many ways in which you, or your friends, family or colleagues, can support the Gene Therapy Appeal. We do appreciate all you have done so far, but would value any further support you can give this Appeal:

- Visit Virgin Money Giving to donate online.

- Donate quickly and easily via text: simply text GENE06 £5 to 70070 to donate £5 or GENE06 £10 to donate £10 to the Appeal (all text messages are free on all networks).

- Why not ask 6 friends, colleagues or family members to support our £6million Appeal?

- How about organising a coffee morning, jumble sale or fun day to raise funds for the Appeal? Get in touch with your Regional Fundraising Manager who will be happy to support you.

Thank you for all you are doing to support this Appeal. We are hopeful that together we will make the clinical trial happen.