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A community-led initiative to de-risk and advance Parkinson's disease therapeutic targets

Alexandra Vaiana1, Jonathan Behr2,3, Ryan Birol1

  • 1The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, New York, NY, USA.

NPJ Parkinson'S Disease
|June 20, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Identifying effective Parkinson's disease (PD) therapies is difficult. The Targets to Therapies (T2T) initiative unites experts to prioritize and validate potential therapeutic targets, aiming to accelerate new drug discovery for PD patients.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Drug Discovery
  • Biomedical Research

Background:

  • Parkinson's disease (PD) lacks effective disease-modifying therapies.
  • Identifying novel therapeutic targets for PD presents significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline the Michael J. Fox Foundation's Targets to Therapies (T2T) initiative.
  • To detail the T2T initiative's strategy for prioritizing and validating potential PD therapeutic targets.
  • To accelerate the development of new PD therapies.

Main Methods:

  • Uniting multidisciplinary experts to foster collaboration.
  • Developing robust target validation strategies.
  • Creating comprehensive target data profiles.
  • Building essential tools to support drug development.

Main Results:

  • Establishment of a collaborative framework for PD target identification.
  • Systematic approach to target prioritization and validation.
  • Foundation laid for accelerated drug discovery pipelines.

Conclusions:

  • The T2T initiative provides a structured approach to overcome challenges in PD drug development.
  • Prioritizing and validating therapeutic targets is crucial for advancing PD treatment.
  • This initiative aims to expedite the delivery of novel therapies to PD patients.

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