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Bridging the Valley of Death of therapeutics for neurodegeneration

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases are the sixth leading cause of death in the US. The market for disease-modifying drugs is enormous, but no drug exists. Academic scientists are increasingly pursuing the discovery and development of therapeutics. Their progress could potentially reduce the risk of failure sufficiently to warrant greater industry investment and movement of leads into clinical trials. Here we consider the many obstacles to the development of therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease within academia, with a special focus on organizational issues.

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Figure 1: The Valley of Death.
Figure 2: A model nonprofit biotechnology incubator to facilitate academic drug discovery and development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Taube-Koret Center for Huntington's Disease Research, by NIH - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grants 2R01 NS039074 and 2R01 NS045091 and NIH - National Institute on Aging grant 2P01 AG022074, and by The J. David Gladstone Institutes. I thank S. Williams, S. Freedman, M. Sutherland, F. Dorey, M. Lopez, L. Bruijn, R. Blumenstein, R. Pacifici, N. Wexler, C. Johnson, C. Austin, L. Vetter, A. Grove, P. Lansbury, T. Reisine, G. Naeve and members of the Finkbeiner laboratory for helpful discussions and/or comments on an early version of this manuscript. I thank G. Howard and S. Ordway for editorial assistance, and K. Nelson for administrative assistance.

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Correspondence to Steven Finkbeiner.

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Finkbeiner, S. Bridging the Valley of Death of therapeutics for neurodegeneration. Nat Med 16, 1227–1232 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2222

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