Recovery Alliance launched with £1m campaign
A major new initiative to accelerate the delivery of pioneering treatments for paralysis in the UK has been launched by Spinal Research with a £1m fundraising campaign.
The Spinal Research Recovery Alliance will bring together the spinal cord injured, researchers, clinicians and industry partners to get breakthrough therapies to paralysed people at speed and scale.
And it comes just days after UK regulatory clearance of the first function restoring treatment for a chronic spinal cord injury.
“This is a really exciting and pivotal moment,” said Spinal Research trustee Matthew Reeve, son of Superman actor Christopher Reeve who is also a member of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Board of Directors.
“The Recovery Alliance will help create a best practice platform for the real-world testing of new therapies and treatments that will significantly transform lives.
“But it’s more than just another programme. It’s a movement that puts the spinal cord injured community at the heart of progress towards making cures for paralysis a reality.”
Onward Medical’s ARC-EX spinal cord stimulation system this month received regulatory approval with the neurotechnology company now planning a phased launch in the UK early next year.
The pioneering technology delivers targeted, programmed electrical stimulation to the spinal cord using electrodes placed on the back of the neck. Clinical trial results – including a UK trial funded by Spinal Research – have proved its potential to improve hand strength and sensation in tetraplegics with an incomplete spinal cord injury when combined with activity-based rehabilitation.
This is a really exciting and pivotal moment..
“The Recovery Alliance is more than just another programme. It’s a movement that puts the spinal cord injured community at the heart of progress towards making cures for paralysis a reality.” Spinal Research trustee Matthew Reeve and son of Superman actor Christopher Reeve.
The Recovery Alliance is initially targeting £100,000 to fund a real world pilot study at four rehabilitation centres across the UK to test the technology outside a laboratory setting.
Spinal Research Chief Executive Louisa McGinn said: “Our funding has helped bring this first of its kind function restoring treatment from concept to commercialisation. The pilot study will look at how it works in real world settings which will help inform further research in this key area.
“Other breakthrough and next-generation treatments and therapies are coming. We have a unique opportunity here: to bring the SCI community, researchers and clinicians together to gather real-world insights that will drive further research and shape best practice.”
Spinal Research aims to raise £1m in 2026 for the Recovery Alliance to fund further research and UK clinical trials to speed up the translation of the most promising spinal cord treatments and therapies.
The Alliance also incorporates a Clinical Trial Tracker, already live on Spinal Research’s website, to link the spinal cord injured with cutting-edge trials that are recruiting in the UK and internationally. And, a new digital App is being developed that will help collect and deliver real-world evidence and outcomes.
Louisa McGinn, Chief Executive of Spinal Research
Louisa added: “The science is here. The time is now. A spinal cord injury was seen as incurable, but that is no longer the case. We hope that our Recovery Alliance will become a key driver in building the foundations of a worldclass clinical trials network in the UK bringing a cure for paralysis closer.
“Together with the spinal cord injury community, researchers, clinicians, funders and industry partners we’re building a national force for change, turning research breakthroughs into real-world recovery which will transform the treatment and rehabilitation landscape for paralysed people in the UK.”