$1.2M MJFF funding for PD drug targets

The USA-based Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) has announced $1.2 million in total awards to four research teams working to advance potentially disease-modifying therapeutic targets for PD along the drug development pipeline. The funding was awarded under the Novel Approaches to Drug Discovery for Parkinson's Disease program, made possible by funding from Elan Corp, an Ireland-headquartered neuroscience-based biotechnology company.

"For successful translation into real-world PD therapies, early-stage therapeutic approaches must be chaperoned through the necessary preclinical and clinical stages of drug development," said Sarah Orsay, the MJFF's chief executive. If projects funded under this program warrant further development, Elan has the option to participate more actively and further the progress made by the beneficiaries - taking the Foundation that much closer to its shared goal of delivering new treatments to patients, she said.