Fall / Winter 2019 | Research 5
New Options
for Patients
Today (with
More on the
Way)
When MJFF began
nearly 20 years ago,
the Parkinson’s drug
development pipeline
was sparse, with few
companies willing to
invest in Parkinson’s
research.
Today, there is greater clinical activity
than ever before. The pipeline of potential
therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD) continues
to grow and diversify, with 98 promising
clinical programs for Parkinson’s that align
with the Foundation’s priority targets.
Because of the variability of the disease,
having more choices to treat the symptoms
of PD is a priority. The number of treatments
in later stages of development and getting
to pharmacy shelves is increasing at an
unprecedented pace, offering Parkinson’s
patients and the physicians who treat them
more options to manage the disease and live
well with PD. And growing optimism for a
world without PD is amplified by the millions
of dollars in investments in drug development
for therapies with the potential to slow or stop
disease progression.
“I’m quite encouraged about the momentum in
drug development led by MJFF in partnership
with the PD community,” says Jeff Keefer,
MJFF Board Chairman who was diagnosed
with Parkinson’s in 2007. “For 10 years, I was
on a regimen of levodopa (the gold standard)
several times a day. When that wasn’t cutting
it, a mix of three newer drugs, shepherded by
the Foundation through financial and non-
financial investments, helped me manage
progressing symptoms.”
Two New Approvals in 2019 (So Far!)
Since 2014, 13 new treatments (drugs and
medical devices) have been approved by the
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