Better than last year! The Telethon collected 46.21 million euros this Saturday at 8 p.m. against 44.36 million last year around 8 p.m. “It’s now that everything is played, in this last part of the collection,” said the president of the AFM-Téléthon organization, Laurence Tiennot-Herment.
“It’s the reunion Telethon after two years of frustration. We know the economic situation. There is inflation but also the World Cup (of football) and for as much on the ground, it is the party and the reunion. Every year, the French renew their trust in us because they see the victories of research,” she added.
Launched on Friday evening, the 36th edition of the charity marathon will end overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Donations can be made by telephone (3637) or Internet (téléthon.fr). Saturday evening, alongside comedian Kev Adams, the godfather of the edition, many artists will rub shoulders with families, patients and researchers on the set of France Télévisions.
A demonstration prevented by the Covid
This event was able to return fully to the field this year, with events in more than 13,000 municipalities. The 2021 edition, which had returned to the field after the 2020 confinement, had collected some 86 million euros in the end, practically at the pre-Covid level.
After the first advances, for example against immune deficiencies, the work funded by the Telethon targets more complex pathologies, such as neuromuscular diseases. Three years ago, a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, a disease which condemned babies to an early death, was thus put on the market.
Beyond rare diseases, which affect approximately 3 million people in France, the innovations resulting from research supported by the Telethon also inspire therapeutic solutions for widespread diseases such as neurodegenerative pathologies or cancers.