Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which clinical trials for potential new treatments for ME she is funding; from which budget the funding for those trials is sourced; how much funding is allocated for those trials; which research institutions are leading those trials; what the time-frame is for those trials; and what the descriptor is for those trials.

No clinical trials are currently being funded by the Department on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). However, recently, two application development awards were made to projects intending to investigate the feasibility of a new clinical trial that tests multiple interventions for the treatment of post-acute infection syndromes, including long COVID and ME/CFS. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has awarded around £398,000 to two projects: “Designing an inclusive platform trial for people living with Post-Acute Infection Syndromes (PAIS)” at the University of Leicester and “D-SUPPORT-ME" at the University of East Anglia. Further information on clinical trials is available at the ISRCTN registry at the following link:

https://www.isrctn.com