LETTER FROM THE CEO
THE MICHAEL J . FOX FOUNDATION 2024 YEAR IN REVIEW
Letter from the CEO : A Time of Transformation in Parkinson ’ s Research
When Michael J . Fox launched the Foundation , it was with one goal : cure Parkinson ’ s disease and go out of business . In pursuit of this goal , even as the state of science has significantly evolved , our strategy has never wavered : bring together key stakeholders to envision solutions to our most persistent challenges . Our mission moves forward thanks to our community of people and families with Parkinson ’ s and their pursuit of more knowledge and better treatments , researchers on the front lines and all those who contribute precious time , energy and financial support for research .
The 2023 discovery of the new biomarker — built on more than a decade of research led by the Foundation ’ s landmark clinical study , the Parkinson ’ s Progression Markers Initiative , or PPMI , and hundreds of millions of dollars in donor support — has dramatically accelerated the search for next-generation treatments . This could not have happened without you . Thank you .
In 2024 our team has been hard at work laying out and executing a comprehensive plan to achieve the newfound acceleration made possible by the biomarker . On the roadmap :
+ Developing and evolving the biomarker tool , so that it is more informative about Parkinson ’ s progression over time and can be more readily integrated into drug trials .
+ Pursuing additional biomarkers , including sophisticated imaging tracers that would allow researchers , for the first time ever , to visualize Parkinson ’ s-related biology in the living brain .
+ Leveraging more than 10 years of clinical data and biobanked samples to accelerate trials and gain further insights into the biology of the disease .
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