Michael J. Fox Foundation's Rapid Response Innovation Awards Hit Mid-2009 With More Than $1 Million Funded in High-risk/High-reward Approaches to Parkinson's Disease

The Foundation has funded 20 Rapid Response Innovation Awards in 2009, and a total of over $6 million in awards since the program was first launched. Some Rapid Response projects from prior years have gone on to garner major additional funding to support the next stage of research, including clinical trials. These include D. James Surmeier, PhD’s 2007–2008 investigation of approved high-blood pressure drug isradipine as a neuroprotective approach to PD, which is currently being tested with MJFF support in a Phase 2 controlled clinical trial.