Greg Hunt, Minister for Health, today has announced that the Government will provide $30m over 5 years, through the Medical Research Futures Fund, for the Australian Parkinson’s Mission for clinical trials of drugs that have shown promise in slowing or stopping the progression of Parkinson’s.
The Minister said “the funding by the Government of the Australian Parkinson’s Mission and the ground-breaking work that Australian researchers are undertaking in Parkinson’s research will give real hope to the Parkinson’s community that treatments will be discovered to slow or stop the progression of this condition.”
Parkinson’s Australia CEO, Steve Sant, said “This funding will provide an opportunity to undertake world-leading research into treatments that have the potential to arrest Parkinson’s.”
This research is innovative as it combines genomic sequencing with the trialling of a number of drugs that have shown some potential to slow, stop or reverse Parkinson’s to provide a transformative understanding of the underlying causes of Parkinson’s. The identification of biomarkers (tests) will enhance our ability to measure effective treatments and monitor the progression of Parkinson’s and facilitate early diagnosis and early intervention.
Identifying treatments that slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s is a big step towards our ultimate aim of funding a cure for, and preventing, Parkinson’s.”
The Australian Cure Parkinson’s Roadmap, developed by Parkinson’s Australia, called on the Medical Research Futures Fund to fund $30m over five years to support Parkinson’s research through the Australian Parkinson’s Mission in a world-first model that simultaneously aligns clinical trials of multiple repurposed drugs, biomarker development and genomic analysis to develop new personalised treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative condition that has no cure. Over 13,000 new Parkinson’s cases are diagnosed every year. In 2019 it is estimated that 1 in every 300 people will be living with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s is more prevalent than many cancers including breast cancer, lung cancer and leukaemia.
The Australian Parkinson’s Mission is a collaboration of Parkinson’s Australia, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Garvan Research Foundation, The Cure Parkinson’s Trust (UK), Shake It Up Australia Foundation and the Michael J Fox Foundation.
