WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ALS Association is pleased to announce the Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALSTM) Drug Development Contract grant program to fund milestone-driven research to develop new treatments for ALS. This program supports research from early target identification to preclinical research and early pilot clinical trials. The successful grants with the most developed plan will receive up to a $500,000 investment over a maximum two-year period.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, which often leads to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. For unknown reasons, veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS as the general population. There is no cure, and only one drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modestly extends survival.
The TREAT ALSTM Drug Development Contract program supports preclinical assessment of therapeutics for ALS, not the clinical trials themselves. Proposed studies should be product driven and focused on therapeutics. The goal is that the agent and/or data generated from these awards will lay the groundwork to move drugs and/or agents into clinical trials and toward the advancement of new therapies for ALS.
Priority is given to applications focused on developing compounds directed toward the most attractive targets for ALS with significant data to support the relevance of the chosen target for ALS therapy. The programmatic interests for the grant proposals are limited to the following areas: testing of compounds in ALS mouse models; development of pharmacologic agents; design and implementation of full-scale, pilot current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) production of therapeutics and/or delivery systems; and development of pharmacologic agents to the Investigational New Drug (IND) stage.
The preclinical drug development process may require resources beyond a single organization. Collaborations are encouraged that focus on testing and developing lead agents for the treatments of ALS. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are encouraged to apply. For full details of the grant program click here. Letters of intent are due March 21, 2016. Full proposals for the most promising studies will be requested on April 12, 2016. Full proposals are due May 16, 2016, with successful applicants announced in July 2016.
About The ALS Association
The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front. By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. For more information about The ALS Association, visit our website at www.alsa.org.
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SOURCE The ALS Association
