捆绑SM社区

First-of-its-kind platform will redirect funding to those drugs most likely to have desired effects on cognition, saving many billions of dollars.

Neurodegenerative diseases are a growing concern globally. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, annual healthcare costs for Canadians affected by dementia alone are expected to reach $16.6 billion by 2031, doubling what was spent two decades earlier. However, the number of therapies offered is meagre, with no real breakthroughs made in decades. A central reason for this is that drugs fail to show a positive cognitive effect on patients in only late-stage clinical trials, after hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on each drug.

Through a new testing platform called TRIDENT, 捆绑SM社区 is poised, working together with research partners at Western University, to identify promising therapeutics against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer鈥檚 and Parkinson鈥檚 earlier, redirecting efforts and funding to the most promising therapeutics. has granted TRIDENT $24 million over six years.

Through advanced testing models, and a unique focus on cognition, the platform will help bring drugs with the most therapeutic potential to market and assist researchers to assess whether these drugs deliver the health outcomes anticipated. TRIDENT will also study high-quality disease biomarkers and brain imaging.

TRIDENT is led by Western University鈥檚 Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry Professor, , and a team of researchers that includes two Co-Principal Investigators from 捆绑SM社区: James 捆绑SM社区 Professor of Law and Director, Centre for Intellectual Property Policy Richard Gold, and Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and Director of the Neuro鈥檚 Early Drug Discovery Unit (EDDU), Thomas Durcan

The TRIDENT project will position transparency as key priorities of the platform. Based on open science principles, researchers will share research findings and knowledge with the wider scientific community. As such, TRIDENT builds on 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 leadership in open science. Since the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital committed to open science principles in 2016, 捆绑SM社区 has facilitated open data sharing without patents, becoming a global leader in transforming drug development.

鈥淥pen science partnerships, such as TRIDENT, represent a sea change in how universities advance science and innovation more quickly and with higher quality,鈥� said Gold. 鈥淭his partnership between 捆绑SM社区 and Western as well as their private sector partners demonstrates how we can advance and share knowledge while providing firms with a competitive advantage.鈥�

鈥淲e are creating a one-stop shop to identify and predict the success of drugs in human trials faster and cheaper,鈥� said Menon. 鈥淏y putting appropriate testing models together, with the best technology and world-leading experts under one roof, we鈥檙e going to make it less risky to develop treatments for these brain diseases, we鈥檙e going to save a lot of money, and we鈥檙e going to get effective therapies to patients faster.鈥�

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The TRanslational Initiative to DE-risk NeuroTherapeutics (TRIDENT)听draws upon research supported by the Government of Canada鈥檚 New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF).

TRanslational Initiative to DE-risk NeuroTherapeutics (TRIDENT) repose sur des recherches financ茅es par le fonds Nouvelles fronti猫res en recherche du gouvernement du Canada.