The traditional model is like building a stadium for one game and then tearing it down. With a platform trial, you build the stadium once and host many games over time.
FASTER CLINICAL TRIALS
THE MICHAEL J. FOX FOUNDATION 2025 YEAR IN REVIEW
Transforming Clinical Trials Creating Better, Faster Paths to Breakthroughs
The Parkinson’ s disease therapeutic pipeline is more vibrant than ever, and assessing the safety and effectiveness of new treatments takes both money and time. At The Michael J. Fox Foundation, we’ re addressing this challenge by applying newfound biological insights in real time to clinical trials. We’ re also backing innovative approaches to research like platform trials, which are designed to deliver
The traditional model is like building a stadium for one game and then tearing it down. With a platform trial, you build the stadium once and host many games over time.
Catherine Kopil, PhD quicker results while saving time and money.
Traditional clinical trials test one drug at a time, requiring the rebuilding of tools and resources at each stage of the process. Platform trials enable researchers to test multiple treatments simultaneously or back-toback without interruption, using a shared control group and infrastructure. This not only speeds timelines and lowers costs, but also reduces the number of participants on placebos— an inactive treatment some trial participants are given— so more patients benefit directly from potential discoveries.
“ The traditional model is like building a stadium for one game and then tearing it down,” said Catherine Kopil, PhD, senior vice president and head of clinical research at MJFF.“ With a platform trial, you build the stadium once and host many games over time.”
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