The Michael J. Fox Foundation Annual Report 2018 Impact + Innovation | Page 7

2018 Annual Report
targeted therapies in PD patients who don’t carry the LRRK2
mutation in their upcoming phase II clinical trial. A robust
pipeline also includes eight therapies in human testing against
the clumping of the protein alpha-synuclein in cells. MJFF
funded three of the programs directly, and our tools and
resources are helping them all advance. Fox Insight, an online clinical study collecting patient-reported
data about health-related experiences from volunteers with and
without Parkinson's disease, has become the largest and most
representative Parkinson’s research study to date with 37,000
participants to date yet still striving to recruit over 100,000
(learn more about how you can participate at foxinsight.org).
We continue to balance our portfolio of grants between
“disease modification” and “improved symptom management.”
We are driving new options for managing symptoms — both
for motor and non-motor issues — with support for trials
of therapies against anxiety, constipation, and swallowing
problems and leveraging applied technologies to address issues
such as speech and gait and balance. Looking ahead, we’ll continue to push hard on promising
ideas and seed the pipeline with more possibilities to meet the
urgent need for new Parkinson’s therapies.
As promising therapies move beyond laboratory science into
human testing, our efforts to engage the patient and family
as research volunteers is also expanding. Our Foundation is
gathering critical information from Parkinson’s experts — the
patients — to help researchers better understand PD and
design better drug trials (see page 23).
Large-scale biomarker studies like the Parkinson’s Progression
Markers Initiative (PPMI) has changed the way Parkinson’s
research is done. PPMI’s collection of comprehensive
clinical information from volunteers has become a deep
well for discovery and validation that has significantly grown
understanding of PD. In 2018, PPMI, now a $100-million effort,
directed us to new ways to define and measure Parkinson’s,
supplied data and samples for next-generation molecular
analysis, and began planning for its next frontier: early
detection and prevention of PD.
Our impact and innovation are made possible by people,
partners and teams who support us. We are all part of the
answer and throughout this report, you’ll hear more about
what’s been made possible through your generosity. On behalf
of everyone at MJFF, thank you.
With gratitude,
Todd Sherer, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Deborah W. Brooks
Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman
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