Thursday, September 21, 2006
News from Prize4Life - rod @ 06:42 PST
What is Prize4Life?

Prize4Life is a results-oriented nonprofit founded to accelerate ALS research by offering substantial prizes to scientists who solve the most critical scientific problems preventing the discovery of an effective ALS treatment.

The Prize4Life concept is inspired by other prize awards for stimulating research, such as the X-Prize for commercial space travel and DNA-decoding, the U.S. government’s H-Prize for hydrogen renewable energy, and Eli Lilly’s venture, InnoCentive, which outsources difficult R&D problems to a distributed network of scientists using prizes.

Why Launch Prizes for ALS research?

· Prizes will act as a “lighthouse” for all of ALS research – directing scientists to focus on solving the ALS problems most critical to discovering an effective treatment.
· Prizes will provide the right incentives for the right academic ideas to be taken outside of the laboratory and commercialized for ALS patients.
· Prizes will remove the largest impediments to industry’s involvement in ALS.

What makes Prize4Life distinctive?
· Prize4Life is uniquely positioned to offer ALS prizes because we bring together ALS associations, academic researchers, and industry – all working toward an ALS treatment.
· Prize4Life only pays for results. A significant donation will be held in escrow until the prize contest has concluded. If the desired results are not achieved, the donor keeps the money.
What will the Prize4Life Prizes be for?

Prize Description Duration Amount
Biomarker/diagnostic tool A test or exam that will allow us to measure how good a treatment is much more precisely than just measuring patient survival. 3 years after launch – prize due to launch within one month $2.5 Million – amount at launch will be at least $1 Million
High Throughput Screening for ALS A lab experiment that allows the fast and cheap testing of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds for their potential as ALS drugs. 3 years after launch $2.5 Million
New Treatment Therapies Treatment that extends life by x% more than any current therapy for ALS. Confirmed independently. 3 years after launch $5 Million
Interested Scientists and Researchers, should register at: http://www.innocentive.com/servlets/account/Register.po
For more information about Prize4Life – please go to www.prize4life.org or email contact@prize4life.org


http://www.alsmndalliance.org/cgi-bi...?id=1158835362

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