Latest news

The AFM-Téléthon sends you its best wishes for the New Year and hopes that 2024 will be full of scientific breakthroughs, small and large joys, and shared victories!

The 30th of September is Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Day. At this occasion, the LGMD Interest Group of the AFM-Téléthon is planning an information day about these diseases in Evry. 

The 10th World Duchenne Awareness Day, on September 7, is a call to action to break down the physical, social and healthcare barriers faced by the 250,000 people around the world affected by this disease. It's also an opportunity to take stock of advances in research into this disease, which is emblematic of our Association. 

In an article published in July 2023, an Italian researcher traces the birth and development of myology. This medical science of muscle and its diseases has developed over time, not only thanks to the advent of tools and technologies that improve our knowledge of muscle, but also thanks to the international collaborations that have marked its history.

Cure through Innovation is a booklet that sums up the main actions and missions of the AFM-Téléthon association, as well as the key figures for 2022. The July 2023 edition has just been published!

On April 12, Prof. Judith Melki succeeded Odile Boespflug-Tanguy as president of the AFM-Telethon’s Scientific Advisory Board. Professor Emeritus of medical genetics, Judith Melki is at the origin of the discovery of the SMN gene, responsible for spinal muscular atrophy.

ILTOO Pharma and the European consortium MIROCALS have just announced the signing of a license agreement for the development of a low-dose Interleukin 2 as a potential treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The AFM-Telethon helped finance this clinical study, which shows an improvement in patient survival. 

Read more about AFM-Telethon’s social missions, main activities, and key figures in this new edition of Cure through Innovation.

Families, researchers, volunteers, partners… all are ready to organize the 35th Telethon! A crucial event for patients and their family, and for the whole of medicine.

« Advances in Steinert’s disease » and « Advances in myotonic dystrophy type 2 » are two new documents, published by the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM-Téléthon), which can be read and/or downloaded here.

On February 28, International Rare Disease Day will put the spotlight on the rare diseases community throughout the world. At this occasion, AFM-Telethon revisits thirty years of pioneering research and innovation carried out by its laboratory, Genethon, which has developed a high-level expertise in researching and developing preclinical and clinical gene therapy treatments for rare diseases.

The laboratory of AFM-Telethon celebrates its 30th anniversary: watch the video series recounting the saga of this one-of-a-kind laboratory, which put France at the forefront of genome exploration, and has supported gene therapy through thick and thin, bringing it to its first successes today. Let us have a look back at this ongoing medical revolution.

What is AFM-Telethon? What are its missions? What were the highlights of 2019? The answer is in the Cure through Innovation booklet.

Enabling early detection and diagnosis of the disease is the aim of the new European Alliance for Newborn Screening in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA NBS Alliance), launched on August 31st by SMA Europe, of which AFM-Telethon is a member.