“To advocate on behalf of all people affected by MS, to drive change and to accelerate research toward better treatments, prevention and a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS).”
MS affects more young people than any other acquired chronic neurological disease, for which there is currently no cure.
More than 25,600 Australians are living with MS and the economic impact of MS on the Australian economy is close to $2 billion annually.
MS can be incredibly debilitating for those with the disease, and it poses significant challenges for families, friends and carers.
Research shows that people with MS have atypical and inflamed gut microbiomes. It’s thought a potential treatment option could be to target certain bacteria which produce the inflamed cells in the gut and to regulate the body’s immune response.
Associate Professor Laurence Macia has already successfully shown the connection between protein intake and the growth of gut bacteria which positively impacts the immune system. Now, it’s hoped that by learning more about which bacteria are involved, the composition of microbiomes can be altered to shift towards an anti-inflammatory state.
If this project is successful, researchers will be able to offer people living with MS better dietary recommendations and a potential treatment to reduce the severity of their MS.
There is also great opportunity for the findings to be applied to other neurological conditions.
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Our donation to this organisation is made possible through our relationship with Hearts and Minds Investments. Hearts and Minds Investments (HM1:ASX) is a unique listed investment company striving to deliver attractive equity investment returns for shareholders, while providing funding for Australian medical research. The HM1 portfolio is a mix of the highest conviction ideas pitched by invitation at the SOHN Hearts and Minds annual conference, as well as via the six core managers, of which TDM is proud to be included. HM1’s charitable goal is made possible by waiving typical investment fees and instead, making a donation to the suite of HM1 medical research beneficiaries. As such, TDM donates its proportion of the allocated 1.5% management fee via the TDM Foundation each year. We approached the donation opportunity as we would any of our potential investments, spending considerable time learning about the medical research industry, what challenges researchers are facing and what the most pressing health issues are on Australia’s horizon and what funding is available. We reviewed more than 70 medical research institutes with an aim to support institutes which are solving the most challenging problems with scalable benefits to the community. At the end of this exhaustive process, we feel privileged to support four projects, the researchers leading them and the institutes backing them.
