Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting between 500,000 and 1 million Americans (Neurology. 2007 Jan 30;68(5):326-37; Neurology. 2007 Jan 30;68(5):384-6; Mov Disord. 2013 Mar;28(3):311-8; NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2018 Jul 10;4:21). While there are pharmaceutical therapeutics and device- and surgery-based treatments for PD symptoms, there are currently no treatments to stop or slow the progression of PD.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is the primary institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports PD research. In fiscal year 2021, the NINDS funded approximately $129 million out of a total of $254 million in NIH-supported PD research. This takes place through a variety of mechanisms including individual grant funding for basic, translational, and clinical research, funding for the Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research, the development and validation of biomarkers through the Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker Program (PDBP), biobanks and data repositories, and participation in the Accelerating Medicine Partnership for Parkinson’s Disease (AMP-PD) collaboration.
Building on a previous workshop that considered impediments to moving disease-modifying PD therapeutics through clinical trials, NINDS is seeking to identify preclinical challenges and opportunities for target validation and therapeutics development for PD. We aim to convene a workshop to discuss this topic from the perspective of industry partners, non-profit funders, academic researchers, and people with Parkinson’s Disease.
For further information, please contact Neel Dhruv neel.dhruv@nih.gov