Funding for industrial partners in Parkinson’s disease

Funding opportunity

The Michael J Fox Foundation is looking for industrial partners to take up funding through its Therapeutics Development Initiative.

The Foundation, which says it will, “Do whatever it takes to speed promising Parkinson's research toward clinical testing and patients,” puts the emphasis on translational and clinical research. It also funds high-risk/high-reward discovery work in a bid to keep novel approaches flowing into the drug development pipeline.

Currently the charity has 35 active industry collaborations, and has supported 67 since its inception. It claims a proven track record of effectively partnering with companies large and small on pre-clinical and clinical development. It does not seek ownership of IP generated from research it funds.

Research priorities include biomarker development, validation of disease subtypes, development of leading Parkinson’s disease targets such as LRRK2, alpha-synuclein and trophic factors, and untreated symptoms and complications such as dyskinesia.

The next deadline for the Therapeutics Development Initiative, which allocates $5 million a year exclusively for industry, is December 15.

For more information, visit: http://www.michaeljfox.org/research_opportunitiesForIndustry.cfm#q2