MSDx, Inc. Awarded a Rapid Response Innovation Grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation For the Development of Biomarkers in Parkinson’s Disease
TUCSON, AZ, June 17,2013 – MSDx, Inc. announced today that the company is the recipient of a Rapid Response Innovation Award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The grant entitled, “Neuromelanin in circulating phagocytes may reveal early neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease” has been funded. This allows MSDx to expand the company’s pioneering biomarker research beyond Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and into Parkinson’s disease (PD).
As one of the organizations to receive an MJFF Rapid Response Innovation Award (RRIA) from the Edmond J. Safra Core Program in Parkinson’s Disease Research, the company will receive a one-year grant of up to $75,000 to conduct several high-potential exploratory studies. “This grant allows MSDx to demonstrate proof of principle and to create the biochemical assay prior to clinical validation,” said Dr. Ramesh Nayak, PhD, and Director of Research at MSDx. Dr. Nayak explains that this award has the potential to significantly impact effective treatment of Parkinson’s disease much earlier in its course.
“This grant will enable us to accelerate our biomarker research into another important brain disease, Parkinson’s,” said Marie Wesselhoft, President of MSDx, Inc. “Our mission is to provide a simple blood test for earlier diagnosis and long term monitoring of disease progression in a patient living with Parkinson’s, a disease that does not currently have biomarkers.”
MSDx discovered a novel source of blood-based biomarkers that offers a real-time view of disease activity in the brain. The company refers to its proprietary, patent-pending approach as WINDOW INTO THE BRAINTM. Multiple Sclerosis is the first disease of focus for the company. Ultimately, this technology may be applied in other brain diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Traumatic Brain Injury. Wesselhoft adds, “Our products will provide clinicians with important information on disease activity earlier in the disease process. This critical data can aid in determining whether drug therapy is working for an individual patient, and offer insights into personalized patient care over time.”
About Michael J. Fox Foundation
As the world’s largest private funder of Parkinson’s research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson’s disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program, and has invested over $325 million in research to date. For more information, visit www.michaeljfox.org.
About MSDx, Inc.
MSDx is developing Laboratory Developed Tests (LDT) and In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) blood tests for brain diseases in various stages. Initial blood tests currently under development focus on monitoring patients with Multiple Sclerosis. The company is located in Tucson at the University of Arizona’s Tech Park business incubator called the Arizona Center for Innovation (AzCI). Please visit www.msdx.co for more information about the company and their patent-pending technology.
Media Contact: Marie Wesselhoft mwesselhoft@msdx.co, 520-907-3267
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