Wiggins gives star backing to drug access campaign

The Tour de France winner has been inspired by five-year-old Jack Johnson, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and is the son of former Wigan and Castleford Tigers rugby league player Andy Johnson, who lives near the cyclist’s home in Lancashire.

Now he has offered his support for Empower: Access to Medicine which is campaigning to change the rules on prescribing experimental drugs.

Drug companies are reluctant to provide patients with emerging drugs for rare conditions amid legal concerns but the campaign would mean patients waiving their right to take legal action 
in the hope doctors get vital 
information about potential therapies.

Most youngsters with Duchenne’s can expect to be in a wheelchair by the age of ten and will not survive to see their 30th birthday.

Sir Bradley has been helping to train Andy Johnson to cover an 81-mile stretch of the Tour de France to raise money for his charity Joining Jack, for research into Duchenne’s, which has been heavily backed by many in rugby league.