P2P leverages PPMI ’ s established infrastructure , with its volunteers , clinical sites , investigators , staff and approved protocols , to strip years and millions of dollars from the process of clinically testing new , promising therapies . MJFF received interest from more than a dozen leading pharmaceutical companies testing novel preventive therapeutics and has selected the first partners . Contracting is currently under way , and P2P is expected to launch in 2024 or early 2025 .
The Promise of Imaging
aSyn-SAA and DaTscan — a brain scan to detect the degeneration of dopamine-producing cells in the brain , in use for the past decade — are robust tools to help diagnose Parkinson ’ s . But we are still pursuing the ability to visualize alpha-synuclein in a living human brain . This visibility into the brain , the organ of interest in Parkinson ’ s , is critical for developing better therapeutics . That ’ s why imaging remains among MJFF ’ s highest scientific priorities .
The Foundation is supporting development of a PET tracer that can isolate images of alpha-synuclein in the brain through the Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition , a $ 10-million funding program . In March 2023 , MJFF announced that Merck took top billing in the competition , earning an additional $ 1.5 million toward developing their synuclein tracer . The program is made possible in part through the generous support of Ken Griffin , founder and CEO of the Miami-based global investment firm Citadel . Participating teams may also be eligible for MJFF ’ s Alpha-synuclein Imaging Prize , a separate $ 2-million incentive to the first team to show clinical evidence of an alpha-synuclein PET tracer and to agree to make the tool available to the research community .
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