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Finding rare diseases sooner
A rare disease can take years to name. We fund the practical work that shortens that wait, from better tests to clearer referral routes.
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A UK health research charity
Some of the most useful health research never finds funding.
Duet gives money and hands-on expertise to research, communication and education that commercial sponsors and government grants pass by — work on spotting rare diseases sooner, making medicines easier to live with, and explaining health clearly.
Registered UK charity · every grant decision answered within three weeks
3.5 million people
in the UK live with a rare condition
What we fund
The three things we support
Small, practical projects that can be delivered in a couple of years and would otherwise stall.
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Making medicines easier to live with
Medicines only work if people can keep taking them. We support research into side effects and how they can be prevented, spotted and managed.
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Explaining health research clearly
Good science is wasted if nobody can understand it. We fund communication and education that helps the public, patients and clinicians make sense of the evidence.
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Our story
“You learn very quickly which questions get funded, and which ones don't.”
Mike and Julie Matthews spent twenty-five years building a drug development company. Having sold most of it, they set up Duet to work on the questions they had watched go unanswered — not because they didn't matter, but because there was no commercial return in them.
Duet brings their experience, expertise and network of scientific and medical contacts to projects that need all three, alongside the funding.
Read why Duet existsHow Duet works
From a good idea to findings people can use
Every project we back follows the same route. It is short, so researchers spend their time on the work rather than on paperwork.
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A gap is spotted
A clinician, researcher or patient group tells us about a question nobody is funding — often a rare condition or a side effect people live with and rarely mention.
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One short application
A single form describes the project, the people and the cost. No lengthy bid writing, no consultants, no application fee.
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A decision within three weeks
Our trustees read every application themselves, with twenty-five years of drug development experience behind the decision. You get a plain answer either way.
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The work is funded in full
Money goes straight to the project — laboratory time, study nurses, analysis or writing — and never into overheads.
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Progress is checked, not policed
We keep in touch with short, practical reviews so problems get solved early instead of at the end.
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Findings are shared
Results are published openly and rewritten in plain English for patients, families and clinicians, because research nobody understands changes nothing.
Running a project that fits? The application is one form and you will have an answer within three weeks.
At a glance
A small charity that stays close to the work
- 3.5 million
- people in the UK live with a rare condition
- 3 weeks
- is all it takes us to answer a grant application
- 100%
- of every donation goes into projects, not overheads
- 25 years
- of drug development experience behind every decision
What our funding actually does
We are small on purpose. That means we can say yes to a pilot study, a diagnostic test that needs validating, or a training programme, within weeks rather than months.
- Grants sized for real, practical projects rather than large programmes
- Scientific and regulatory advice from people who have done it before
- Introductions to clinicians, labs and patient groups through our network
Health information in plain English
Guides to rare diseases, medicines and health research, written in everyday English.
All health information
Thinking of donating?
See exactly where your gift goes, step by step
Five plain-English steps: how you give, why your gift reaches us in full, how we choose projects, and how we tell you what your money achieved.
Support Duet
Small charity, practical help
Duet is funded by our founders and by people who believe useful research should not stall for want of a modest amount of money. Every gift goes into projects.
Newsletter
Keep in touch
A short email a few times a year: the research we have funded, the people it reached, and the questions still waiting for an answer.
We will only email you about Duet's work. You can unsubscribe at any time, and we never share your details with anyone else.
Latest from Duet
14 July 2026
Duet announces its first three grants
Three small projects — a faster diagnostic pilot, a side-effects clinic study and a schools programme — will share our first round of funding.
2 May 2026
Mike and Julie Matthews: why we started Duet
After twenty-five years in drug development, our founders explain the questions that kept coming back to them.
19 March 2026
Roundtable: what patients wish they had been told
We brought together patients, pharmacists and researchers to talk honestly about medicines information. Here is what we heard.
Running a project that needs funding? Apply for a grant — one short form, answered within three weeks.