We are pleased to provide an update on fundraising, research and awareness efforts for Q3, which ran from July 1st through September 30th.
Fundraising maintained a steady pace as we saw €17,000 in new donations arrive during this time. That puts us at €105,000 raised in total for 2024, a commendable effort.
In January we announced our 2024 fundraising campaign with a target of €200,000 and a focus on getting more family members & loved ones to donate.
We’re now sitting at 52% of our annual target with just three months in the year to go. We are thankful to all who donated in Q3, including generous donations from family & loved ones.
The ratio of donations from family & loved ones increased again this quarter.
22% of donations in Q3 came from loved ones, up from 11% in our last report
The average amount contributed by loved ones was €1200, over 20 times larger than the average amount contributed by patients.
So far this year, 60% of our total funds raised came from loved ones. A further 33% came from a grant and the remaining 7% came from patients.
To find out what we can do with more family support, and why it’s so important they get involved, check out our latest fundraising campaign.
Research progresses steadily
We are pleased to report that all samples for our genetics study have been collected, bringing the total sample size to 160.
As of September 30th, just over 90 of these samples have been sequenced and sent to our lab in Tampere. Initial analysis on these samples has begun, but we won’t be able to make more progress until the majority of samples have been sequenced.
We anticipate all samples to be sequenced and in the lab by the end of 2024.
Research is well underway in Kiel. Under the supervision of Dr Nadine Hornig, the team has begun methylation sequencing of patient and control samples which were collected in 2023. This process will take place over several months, while other experiments are ongoing.
We are also pleased to report that we have almost completed the first draft of a manuscript for our patient survey which ran for several years on the propeciahelp forum. This effort is extremely technical, time consuming and relies solely on volunteers. While we hope we’ll move into the publishing phase soon, there is still more work to be done.
As more information comes to hand we will share it. We appreciate the pace of research can at times be frustrating, but unfortunately we cannot provide blow-by-blow updates from the labs.
Closing out the year strong
There is a lot to be hopeful for as we enter the last quarter of the calendar year. While progress can at times appear slow, it’s important to reflect on how far we’ve come.
At the start of 2024 we hadn’t completed collection of control samples for our Kiel study and only basic analysis was underway. We had only just begun the sample collection process for our genetics study, a massive logistical effort which required the help of dedicated volunteers. Thanks to generous contributions from private donors and patients alike, one study is well into its experiments and analysis phase and the second is only months away from the same.
As always, our research can only go as far as our donors take us. While we’ve now raised enough to fund two major studies, there is still far more that can be done. We strongly urge patients, as always, to get their families involved wherever possible. Our 2024 fundraising campaign page is a great place to start.
With gratitude,
PFS Network team