
#defeatDMDnow
About the Campaign
Jesse’s Journey, Stand for Duchenne Canada and La Force DMD have come together with the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) community to voice our concern regarding the current lack of Health Canada-approved treatment options for Canadians living with this debilitating and life-limiting rare disease. Despite the fact that new therapies – Translarna (ataluren) and Exondys 51 (eteplirsen) – have been approved in Europe and the United States for several years now, in Canada we are still waiting.
There is an urgent need to implement an accelerated pathway for rare disease drug approvals that includes input in the form of real-world input and lived patient and caregiver experience. We acknowledge the work Health Canada is currently undertaking to modernize its approaches regarding drug approval, access to treatments and international collaboration – but the timelines to make these changes are too long. The harsh reality is that any child diagnosed with Duchenne around the time that treatments such as Translarna (ataluren) were initially ready to be evaluated by Health Canada, is most likely no longer able to walk – and may be starting to experience life-threatening respiratory or cardiovascular issues.
This is why we need to work together to defeat Duchenne now – there is no time to wait. We as a Duchenne community need our Canadian regulatory bodies to know why we can’t wait any longer for these treatments and understand the impact the lack of approved treatments is having on our Canadian children and young adults.
Please help us to ensure that federal elected representatives – Members of Parliament (MPs) – and decision makers understand that all treatments for Duchenne considered to be safe and effective, need to be made available in this country as quickly as possible.
Latest Updates

Update: Thank you for making your voice heard.
With your support, 375 emails were sent to candidates and party leaders in both official languages. The 2019 Federal Election may be over, but our...

Thank you!
Thank you to our brave and strong #Duchenne community for helping to make history in Canada! The input you provided through our survey and...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare, progressive and ultimately fatal genetic disorder that mainly affects boys. In Canada, there are about 800 boys living with the disease.

Duchenne causes muscles to gradually weaken, leaving boys in a wheelchair by age 12, with difficulty breathing as early as 15, and with a life expectancy in their 20s to 30s.

New therapies that slow the damage caused by Duchenne have been approved in Europe and the United States for several years now, but Canadians are still waiting.
We want to hear from you!
This campaign is a collaboration between Jesse’s Journey, La Force DMD and Stand for Duchenne Canada. We hope you will join our efforts by using the advocacy tools on this website. Please reach out to any of our groups below with any questions about our work, to share your Duchenne stories, or to tell us how we can make this site even better.
We want to hear from you!
This campaign is a collaboration between Jesse’s Journey, La Force DMD and Stand for Duchenne Canada. We hope you will join our efforts by using the advocacy tools on this website. Please reach out to any of our groups below with any questions about our work, to share your Duchenne stories, or to tell us how we can make this site even better.