Funding to Tackle Chronic Liver Disease

That the Parliament congratulates the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (SMS-IC), which is in Glasgow, and Eagle Genomics on being awarded £1.7 million by Innovate UK, which is the UK innovation agency; notes that this will be used toward a ground-breaking project to develop new tests and treatments for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); recognises that it will involve partners at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the NHS Scotland and the Glasgow and Edinburgh MRC molecular pathology nodes pulling together world-class clinical expertise, data and access to research samples; notes that NAFLD is an accumulation of excess fat in the livers of people who drink little or no alcohol; understands that it affects 25% of the world’s population, is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in developed countries and has no approved treatment; acknowledges that such liver disease is now the third most common cause of premature death in the UK and therefore welcomes this vital funding, and wishes Eagle Genomics and the SMS-IC well with the project.