NEW YORK– The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) has announced second-quarter 2012 participants in its Partnering Program. The Partnering Program proactively showcases promising research results from the MJFF portfolio — targeting funders who may wish to invest in their continued development.
"The challenges of translating basic discoveries into new therapies are incredibly complex,” said Michael J. Fox. “To conquer them, we all need to push ourselves further than we ever have before. Creating a win-win for companies and for patients requires rethinking how we deploy resources creatively and strategically in ways that benefit everyone."
The Partnering Program is designed to help speed therapeutic breakthroughs for Parkinson's disease (PD) by connecting industry leaders with projects ripe for investment. Non-confidential overviews of select MJFF-funded projects are shared with industry contacts and more broadly via MJFF’s Web site on a quarterly basis.
MJFF-supported projects featured in Q2 include:
- Pre-clinical work from Biodesy to develop allosteric and conformation-specific drugs targeting alpha-synuclein
- Pre-clinical development of a secreted growth factor-like protein with neuroprotective potential from Neurodyn
- An academic collaboration between Duke University, National Jewish Health and University of Colorado Denver via Aeolus Pharmaceuticals that has developed a platform of broad-spectrum catalytic antioxidant compounds as neuroprotective strategy for PD
- A team at the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine studying the neuroprotective potential of Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeONP)
Overviews from awardees Addex Pharmaceuticals, Amicus Therapeutics, Ceregene, Allon, Depomed, KineMed, Targacept, and NeuroHealing, were showcased in Q1 2012.
To date, the Foundation has funded over $289 million in research, nearly $75 million of which has been directed to more than 150 unique projects led by industry partners.
Contact ResearchPartnerships@michaeljfox.org to learn more.