The 37th edition of the Telethon, which began on Friday evening, concluded overnight from Saturday to Sunday with a final prize pool of more than 80 million euros, according to the AFM (the French Association against Myopathies).

At the end of the meeting, in the middle of the night, the counter showed precisely 80,671,222 euros. A sum which “testifies to the confidence and the exceptional mobilization of donors, volunteers for this edition rich in victories against the disease and in promises for all those who await the diagnosis, the treatment which will change their lives”, welcomed the association, co-organizer of the event since its first edition in 1987.

In 2022, the Telethon raised 90.8 million euros, the best result since 2016 (80.3 million euros), after two years disrupted by the Covid pandemic.

Beyond the research challenges, the Telethon remains a unique event: this year it mobilized more than 200,000 volunteers and was available in more than 10,000 municipalities, with a number of unusual challenges: a farandole of several hundred people in Tonnerre (Yonne), or a marathon of swimming laps in twelve hours in La Guerche-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine).

Like every year, events were organized in several cities in France, the event mobilized France Télévisions for thirty hours of live broadcast, and the 2023 edition was sponsored by the singer Vianney.

The “official dance” of the Olympics revealed

The 2023 edition made several nods to the Summer 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place in Paris. With, for example, the “official dance” of the 2024 Olympic Games, designed by choreographer Mourad Merzouki and unveiled for the first time on television during the Telethon.

In addition to field collections, pledges of donations by telephone, online, a gaming marathon and a raffle were on the menu. In 2022, the AFM dedicated some €58 million to research and development of new therapies.

This research particularly targets rare diseases, 95% of which remain without treatment or even diagnosis. “The first victories are there, and have really accelerated since 2018-2019,” Laurence Tiennot-Herment, president of the AFM, declared on Friday.

Early detection, before the first symptoms, remains crucial. Since January, two regions, Grand-Est and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, have been experimenting with genetic screening for spinal muscular atrophy at birth. Four babies thus diagnosed have been treated, a fifth will be “probably at 19 days”, greets the president of the AFM-Téléthon.

At the same time, 38 human therapeutic trials, supported by the association, are underway or in preparation for 29 different diseases.