Research
Category
The
Sherer
Report
A Note from Our CEO
Research in a Time of Uncertainty
currently in development, which you’ll read about
in this newsletter.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) research stands at
a critical juncture. The state of the science
continues to advance, demonstrating growing
promise for the millions worldwide living with
the disease. The impact of The Michael J. Fox
Foundation is increasingly felt in the field,
stemming from our multi-million-dollar efforts
to speed drug development by fostering data
sharing, supporting discovery research, and
driving biomarker validation. Today, we not only
direct funds to individual disease-modifying
and symptomatic therapies, but also establish
frameworks and tools that will accelerate all
projects in their pursuit of breakthroughs.
But we are living in uncertain times. While the
NIH recently secured an additional $2 billion
through September, there are no guarantees
around federal funding for research in 2018 and
beyond. In The New York Times, former NIH
director Harold Varmus writes: “A substantial
NIH budget cut would...diminish opportunities to
discover new ways to prevent and treat diseases.”
Yet the challenge lies not only in government
funding cuts; the private sector, too, is increasingly
risk-averse, especially in neuroscience, where late-
stage clinical testing is astronomically expensive
with no guarantee of success.
We have never been in a position to do this alone.
Perhaps the only thing about PD research that
has remained constant over two centuries is
that it requires strategic risk-taking, enterprise
and collaboration. In our short history, we have
become a unique stakeholder building mutually
beneficial relationships with both academic and
industry researchers. We identify promising
findings from basic research and infuse them with
the resources required to move forward, forging
consortia and collaborations that bring key
players into Parkinson’s research. These efforts,
often through partnerships with the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and private industry,
have resulted in numerous potential therapies
Given these realities, now more than ever our
Foundation is deeply grateful for your support. We
will continue using your contributions as quickly
and wisely as possible to support new discovery,
vital translational research and innovative
scientists who have devoted their lives to finding
better treatments and a cure for PD. We’re proud
of our track record of efficiency, with 89 cents
of every dollar we spend going straight to our
programs. And we count on you to stay with us as
we drive toward a future where Parkinson’s is in
the rearview mirror.
P.S. We’re staying ahead of action in Washington, D.C.
that’s significant for the PD community on our blog at
michaeljfox.org /policyblog.
5
Spring/Summer
The Fox Focus
2017