Marked by the cancellation of many events due to confinement, the Telethon posted at its close on Saturday a counter of 58.29 million euros in donations, down sharply from the 74.6 million euros for the year last.

However, online and phone donations continue through Friday.

The 2020 Telethon counter reached 58.29 million euros in pledges during a 34th edition marked by the cancellation due to confinement of the events that symbolize this charity marathon, organizers said on Sunday.

The final counter shows 58,290,120 euros, down sharply from the total of 74.6 million euros raised during the duration of the Telethon in 2019 and 87 million in total (the counter remains open a little while after the event). 

"In this health context which led to the cancellation of a very large number of events in towns and villages, the French attended this exceptional Telethon: one of the greatest victories in its history" , welcomed the organizers in a statement.

The event to collect donations for research on rare diseases, launched Friday evening, was reduced this year to its retransmission on the channels of France Televisions and to challenges on the internet.

Some 80% of the usual animations have been canceled because of the restrictions imposed by the fight against the Covid.

You can donate to the Telethon by calling 36 37 or on the site https://don.telethon.fr/

"40% of collection" hampered by confinement

"Usually, there are 12,000 municipalities that participate in the Telethon, that is to say one in three, 250,000 volunteers and 5 million French people. The vast majority of these activities are prevented today", had underlined earlier this week the president from the AFM-Telethon organization, Laurence Tiennot-Herment, in an interview with AFP.

However, "the field is 40% of the collection", and in particular "the addition of very small donations", she argued.

"The Telethon is also a social link, and the Covid is synonymous with social distancing: obviously it's contradictory," she regretted.

Donations by internet or phone will continue until December 11, the organizers say.

The 30 years of the Genethon

Despite this particular context, the Telethon celebrated an important anniversary this year: the 30th anniversary of Généthon, the cutting-edge laboratory that this charitable marathon made it possible to finance.

Opened on December 8, 1990, this laboratory has allowed several advances in gene therapy, which consists of introducing genetic material into cells to treat a disease.

He published the first maps of the human genome in the 90s. And last year, the first drug resulting from research carried out at Genethon obtained marketing authorization in the United States, before Japan and Europe. this year.

This treatment, Zolgensma (Novartis laboratory), can treat spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disease that condemned babies to early death.

Out of eleven drug-genes currently approved in the world, "four come directly from our research or our funding" and five are indirectly linked to it, according to the AFM-Telethon.

Success that perhaps calls for others.

Genethon has just obtained the green light from the French Medicines Agency (ANSM) to start a gene therapy trial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease emblematic of Telethon.

The international trial, which is scheduled to start in February, will look at young boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the UK, US, Israel and France.