Our Partners
We don't work in isolation – never have, never will. We partner with dozens of scientific collaborators to advance our mission to end ALS. We also enter into strategic funding alliances with foundations and nonprofits from across the spectrum of neurodegeneration.
Internal Project Partnership Strategy
Using proprietary genomic and proteomic data collected by the Institute and leveraged against the published literature, we have identified several highly relevant disease associated molecular targets. Our current pipeline contains 30 programs targeting these various aspects of neurodegenerative disease pathology. Our team of 30 industry-trained scientists is advancing these projects through the preclinical pipeline at our state-of-the-art, 15,000 square-foot research center in Cambridge's Kendall Square. We are currently seeking partners interested in making strategic investments in projects currently in our pipeline or translating late-stage projects from ALS TDI toward the clinic. TDI develops appropriate intellectual property protection on several molecules each year following the development of supporting data. Each of these molecules represents a potentially important and lucrative opportunity for patients and corporations alike.
External Project Partnership Opportunities
We have developed a continuum of partnership models to support the advancement and translation of potentially life changing therapeutics into the clinic and ultimately the marketplace. As the world's leading preclinical research center for ALS, we work with pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations, academic leaders, and start-ups. In 2011, TDI had six contract research agreements with the largest global drug development companies and 12 collaborations with universities and other corporations. Our partners receive world-class support and access to our research team and infrastructure. We are eager to work with others that share our mission to reduce the time and cost it takes to develop life saving medicine for patients today.
Want to partner with us?
If you would like to explore a potential collaboration with ALS TDI or if you are a representative of a university or company interested in ALS learning more about our current pipeline, please contact our Business Development and Venture Team.
What a few of our current collaborators say about TDI:
Our relationship with ALS TDI is producing tangible results for the worldwide ALS community. This fast-track effort is altering the way researchers advance potential treatments for ALS and has helped many labs evaluate candidate therapeutics quicker and more efficiently than before.
R. Rodney Howell, M.D., Chairman of the MDA Board of Directors
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) announced on March 3, 2011 that it has extended its research partnership with the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) through its flagship ALS fundraising initiative, Augie's Quest. Augie's Quest is led by its Chief Inspiration Officer, Augie Nieto, a well known fitness pioneer diagnosed in 2005 with ALS. Nieto has raised and invested $22 million since 2007 into ALS TDI. This crucial funding has led to a number of potential therapeutics being identified and developed by ALS TDI, including its lead candidate known as ALS TDI 00846.
ALS TDI has already made an important contribution in advancing the science of preclinical animal trials for new drugs for neurodegenerative disease.
Howard Fillit, M.D., executive director of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
On March 22, 2011 the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) and the MDA announced that they were collaborating with ALS TDI to jointly fund the characterization of a new model of neurodegeneration called the TDP-43 mouse. TDP-43 mutations have been associated with many neurodegenerative disorders. Each partner supplied significant funding to the nine month and $1 million project.
By bringing together the Aestus technology for accelerated identification of potential drugs, and ALS TDI's vast knowledge and experience with ALS disease models and clinical drug development, we look forward to the rapid and efficient discovery of novel, effective therapies against this complex and devastating disease.
Tage Honore, Ph.D., DSc., CEO & co-founder of Aestus
Aestus Therapeutics, Inc., has a multi-year collaboration to test several potential small-molecule compounds to slow or stop the progression of ALS. An innovative translational medicine company, Aestus has used their complex, proprietary biological data mining techniques to identify therapeutics for screening against targets associated with ALS disease onset or progression. All screening will be conducted at ALS TDI.