29.02.12
Specialist AKU status for Liverpool trust
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust has been named as the new national centre for the treatment of alkaptonuria (AKU), a rare genetic disorder also known as ‘black bone disease’.
The National Reference Service for the disease will now be based at the trust following the Department of Health’s decision. The successful bid was based on collaboration between the AKU Society and the University of Liverpool.
The centre will focus on clinical and scientific developments concerning the disease, monitor patients’ conditions and treatment, and evaluate emerging therapies.
Dr Lakshminarayan Ranganath, consultant physician at the Royal and a co-founder of the AKU Society, said: “We are tremendously thrilled with this news. It marks the culmination of years of campaigning to raise awareness of this disease and help create a service which can focus exclusively on alkaptonuria.
“The decision by the Department of Health to award this status to our trust is a testament to the years of hard work by a team of dedicated people to establish the excellent partnership work that exists between us, theUniversityofLiverpooland the AKU Society.
“The decision to bring the service toLiverpoolmarks the end of one era and the beginning of an exciting new time for everyone involved in this initiative.”
Professor James Gallagher, who is researching AKU at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Ageingand Chronic Disease, said: “For Liverpool to be designated as a National Reference Service for Alkaptonuria is excellent news, not just for researchers and scientists at the university and hospital trust, but for patients across the world.
“Our research in partnership with the trust and the AKU Society is focused on understanding and preventing the severe osteoarthritis that develops in AKU. This new national service will ensure that our recent progress with models of the disease is rapidly translated into new and better treatments for AKU patients.”
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