Celine Dion’s suffering, revealed in her documentary “I am: Celine Dion” last week, has moved the entire world. The director of the Montpellier University Hospital Institute has declared that he is able to create a drug for this rare neurological disorder, called stiff person syndrome.
What if French doctors could help world star Celine Dion beat her illness? After the documentary aired I am: Celine Dion Last week, in which we discovered the terrible consequences of the stiff person syndrome, crises during which the body becomes paralyzed, the director of the Montpellier University Hospital Institute declared that he was able to create a drug for this extremely rare pathology.
Around fifty people sick in France
Paralysed, unable to move or speak, Céline Dion appears in a sequence of her documentary in the midst of a crisis. Like her, around fifty patients suffer from stiff person syndrome in France, too few to attract the interest of laboratories.
“We will do it willingly if we have the means”
But at the Montpellier University Hospital Institute, which specializes in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, scientists have the technical means to create a therapy. “We are able to develop highly personalized biotherapies. So, for each patient, practically, we can develop an immunotherapy that works well. We have the scientific teams, the medical teams, the technical platforms that allow us to do this and we will do it willingly if we have the means,” assures Christian Jorgensen, director of the institute.
What is lacking is money. With 10 million euros, doctors could develop a drug in less than five years. Donations, whether from Celine Dion or elsewhere, are therefore welcome.
