King’s College Hospital has been given a sizable donation to support pioneering medical research.
The hospital was present with a cheque worth £75,000 to develop promising liver treatments, which have already saved the lives of children with liver disease.
The treatment could now become standard for adults, thanks to this week’s donation.
The ground-breaking technique works by implanting liver cells to function like a temporary liver, enabling the child’s damaged organ to recover.
It has already restored liver function in children with acute liver failure, however the money will fund clinical trials to see if the treatment can be used on adults as well.
“Every day King’s staff work wonders not only to save and enhance lives now, but to drive research and innovation that keeps care advancing,” said Gail Scott Spicer, chief executive of King’s charity arm, which received the donation.
“As a charity we’re thrilled to help the hospital teams take this work further,” she added.
King’s is the only hospital in the world working on this game-changing treatment, which is being spearheaded by the renowned Alex Mowat Pediatric Research Laboratories.
The donation, presented by Innovation, will also be used to support the team’s work to improve the quality, function and activity of transplanted liver cells, besides looking at how they can be cryopreserved and banked.
“This pioneering work has saved and continues to save the lives of sick and dying children,” said Antoinette Mitry, managing director at Innovation, an air conditioning and building services company.
“I am delighted that our company could contribute to the support of King’s scientists with their ‘from bench-to-bedside’ amazing research.”
The research team at King’s will be recruiting patients for the next phase of the clinical trial, funded by the Medical Research Council.
They hope that further commercial support will help them upscale the technology to save the lives of many more patients.
