Institute of Child Health

Announcement made on Rare Disease Day

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity today announces its ambition to raise money to build a Centre for Children’s Rare Disease Research.

The Centre, estimated to cost £66 million to build and equip, will bring together clinical and research expertise from Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL, in particular the Institute of Child Health.  Once opened, the opportunities for children with rare diseases to participate in studies and help doctors and scientists advance understanding of their condition and find effective treatments will increase.  Work carried out in the new Centre will mean that the hospital can start to help more children more quickly.

Rare diseases include rare cancers such as childhood cancers, and some other well-known conditions such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. Others are less common and may only affect a single person or a handful of people.

75% of rare diseases affect children and 30% of rare disease patients will die before their 5th birthday. There are more than 6,000[i] rare diseases and 1 in 17 people will be affected by a rare disease at some point in their lives[ii]. In the UK, that equates to around 3.5 million people.

Dr Jane Collins, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “Rare diseases risk being undiagnosed and therefore untreated. They are also under-researched at present. Although Great Ormond Street Hospital has made some great strides forward, for example with conditions such as x-scid and ADA-scid where we have pioneered an effective gene therapy treatment, much more work needs to be done.  Our ambition is to invest in and lead the way in rare disease research and advance understanding and treatments for the benefit of patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in the UK and across the world.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital is well placed for a centre of this kind.  The hospital’s clinical teams see many children with rare conditions from all over the UK and overseas, across a wide range of clinical specialities.  It is the largest recipient of nationally commissioned NHS funding in the country, in recognition of the doctors seeing more children with rare diseases than probably anywhere else in the world.

The hospital’s research partner, the UCL Institute of Child Health, is central to the hospital’s plans. Professor John Tooke, Vice Provost (Health) at UCL said:

“Together, rare diseases represent a major health burden, particularly in childhood.  Tackling rare diseases not only provides much needed help for these often neglected conditions but can also provide unique insights into what is happening in more common conditions. 

“Recognising the importance of this area, UCL and our Academic Health Science Centre, UCL Partners, are committed to developing our capacity to tackle rare diseases, working with our extensive, nationally commissioned services, partner healthcare organisations and patient groups.  A particular focus of our effort is the UCL Institute of Child Health, which has longstanding strengths in this area.  The Institute is a key contributor to UCL’s approach to genetic analysis and treatment and currently there are four gene therapy trials running at Great Ormond Street Hospital.  Cell therapy and regenerative medicine are other core strengths – for example, the recently publicised children’s stem cell engineered trachea transplant.

“The planned new Centre for Rare Disease Research will help UCL and the ICH realise our full potential to deliver real changes for paediatric patients, who suffer these challenging conditions.  A collaborative ethos within and beyond UCL, and profound patient engagement will enhance the impact of the pioneering approaches that will be developed.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is delighted that John Connolly (until recently the Global Chairman and Chief Executive of Deloitte) has agreed to Chair the fundraising appeal board.  A successful fundraising appeal will lead to the centre opening in 2018.

John Connolly said: “I’m delighted to have been asked to spearhead the appeal on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.  We need to raise £66m to build and equip the Centre, which will be located next to the hospital and the institute. Without these funds the project simply will not happen and the opportunity will be lost.

“I know from personal experience that much more needs to be done to help children with rare diseases and am convinced that The Centre for Children’s Rare Disease Research will make an enormous difference to the health of children who suffer from rare diseases, not just in the UK, but all over the world.

“The scientists and doctors I’ve met from the hospital and institute are just starting to unlock the potential of 21st century medicine.  They now know so much more about how the human body works, why it goes wrong and also how they might put it right.  But they need our support so that they can grasp the unique opportunity in front of them and accelerate their valuable work to help many more children with many different conditions, some of whom still have little hope of diagnosis or treatment, let alone a cure.”

[i] Orphanet

[ii] Official Journal of European Commission