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InnoCentive and Prize4Life Announce First Five Awards for Phase I of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Biomarker Challenge
Objective of Challenge to Find a Biomarker for Lou Gehrig’s Disease

ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InnoCentive, the global leader in open innovation sourcing, announced today that five Solvers have been chosen to receive prizes for the first phase of the Prize4Life ALS Biomarker Challenge. The five winners will receive $15,000 each for their proposals on how to identify an ALS biomarker. Three of the Solvers are from the U.S. and two from Europe.

Prize4Life is offering a total prize purse of $1 million dollars, through InnoCentive, for the successful identification of a novel biomarker for ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease. Finding a solution to the ALS Biomarker Challenge will be a major breakthrough in the area of ALS research. Identifying a robust biomarker for ALS will increase the effectiveness of clinical trials by reducing time and cost, and facilitate the design of novel efficient drugs to treat this fatal disease.

“Reaching out to the broader research community is a powerful way to generate innovative ideas. This is particularly critical for ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease where our understanding of the cause(s) of the disease is still at such a preliminary stage,” said Dr. Nicole Szlezak, Chief Scientific Officer for Prize4Life. “Our Scientific Advisory Board was impressed by the diversity of the ideas submitted, in fact, the five winning ideas came from a wide range of fields including chemistry, dermatology, cell biology, and biostatistics.”

"We are honored to be working with Prize4Life in this critical area of ALS research, a disease afflicting an estimated 128,000 people every year," said Dwayne Spradlin, president and CEO, InnoCentive. "Prize based models will become an increasingly vital tool for foundations and institutions who wish to engage the world’s vast potential for problem solving in the fulfillment of their missions. Our partner organizations today are using InnoCentive's Open Innovation Marketplace to drive accelerated innovation and real world results with the potential to improve quality of life for literally millions of people. It is inspiring to see people from all over the world working to make a real difference."

Researchers and scientists interested in offering a solution for the biomarker challenge must register on InnoCentive’s Web site, www.innocentive.com. The deadline for submissions is November 6, 2008.

About Prize4Life

Prize4Life is a 501c(3) non-profit organization that seeks to create breakthroughs in effective ALS/MND (Lou Gehrig's disease) treatments using the leverage of large inducement prizes. Prize4Life recently launched a $1 Million ALS/MND Biomarker Challenge to stimulate scientific breakthroughs in ALS/MND. The organization will be launching several other multi-million dollar challenges in the near future.

About InnoCentive

InnoCentive created the first online Open Innovation Marketplace™. It is the global leader in open innovation sourcing, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs to collaborate in a global community to deliver breakthrough solutions for R&D-driven organizations. InnoCentive’s clients include commercial and non-profit organizations such as Eli Lilly and Company, Janssen, Solvay, GlobalGiving and The Rockefeller Foundation. InnoCentive customers, who collectively spend billions of dollars on R&D, post complex problems on the InnoCentive Web site where more than 125,000 engineers, scientists, inventors, business people, and research organizations in more than 175 countries can solve them. Solvers™ delivering the most innovative solutions receive financial awards ranging up to US$1,000,000. To learn more visit the InnoCentive Web site at www.innocentive.com.

InnoCentive and InnoCentive Challenge are registered trademarks of InnoCentive, Inc. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.


Contacts
InnoCentive, Inc
Meg Temple, 978-482-3377
Director of Marketing
press@innocentive.com

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