[Stitcher]

Michael J. Fox Foundation Commits Up to $12 Million for Targeted Parkinson's Therapeutic Development in 2010

Tue Sep 15, 2009 2:30pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/press...09+PRN20090915

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation has committed up to $12 million in 2010 funding for prioritized research toward transformative treatments and a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Funding is open to academic and industry researchers through the Foundation's Pipeline Programs, which consist of three annually recurring initiatives, known collectively as The Edmond J. Safra Core Programs for PD Research, as well as the industry-exclusive Therapeutics Development Initiative. The Foundation seeks investigator-initiated proposals focused on the following critical points along the translational pathway to new therapies for Parkinson's disease:

• Testing Novel Hypotheses: Quick support for high-risk, high-reward projects with little to no existing preliminary data, but potential to significantly impact our understanding or treatment of PD.
• Validating Novel Targets: Support for work demonstrating whether modulation of a novel biological target has impact in a PD-relevant pre-clinical model -- an essential step to the development of potential targeted therapies.
• Catalyzing and Expanding Preclinical Development: Industry-exclusive support for preclinical development of Parkinson's disease therapies with potential to fundamentally alter disease course and/or improve treatment of symptoms above and beyond current standards of care.
• Clinically Testing Novel Therapies: Support for clinical testing of promising PD therapies that may significantly and fundamentally Improve treatment of PD.

[pegleg]

I believe at last count, the Fox Foundation had put about $149 million into Parkinson's research! And they really haven't been in existence all that long.

Thank you, Thank you MJF!!!

Peg

[ashleyk]

Somehow I'm not very excited by the MJFF. I hope they do make some important contributions in the fight against PD but I wonder. I've tried in the past to bring their attention to low dose naltrexone, LDN, which many people take for MS but not very many with PD. One can go to the yahoo lowdosenaltrexone web site to see the thousands of anecdotal comments made for LDN but I prefer to believe in the research done at the NIH by Dr. Hongs Pharmacology group. They have produced many papers over the past 10 years on low doses of naltrexone, dextromethorphan and other similar compounds which have shown to greatly reduce over activated microglia (killer cells) in the brains of rodents. Over activated microglia are believed to be the latest cause of PD.
I have been taking LDN and Sinemet now for 5 years and 3 months. I still take a small amount of Sinemet and also a small amount of Mirapex. The overall mix has not been increased over this time. I now have ankle swelling and after reading the post here on Mirapex like drugs causing heart valve scarring, I now have something else to worry about. I have cut back recently on Mirapex on my own. I have a neuro apt. in 3 weeks, I wonder if she will own up to the potential disaster awaiting many of us.
So if anyone can get MJF to talk to Dr. Hong, I would be more positive about his foundation.
Ashley
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/19/6/550
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/304/1/1
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/co...urnalcode=jpet

[wendy s]

ashley, I've known for some time that pergolide (permax) was implicated in heart valve damage. I looked up more information, and it's the ergot-derived dopamine agonists (permax and cabergoline) that cause the valve damage. Mirapex is a non-ergot agonist, so it's okay for your heart (so far, anyway!).