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Parkinson's Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program

Fox (Michael J.) Foundation for Parkinson's Research

This program seeks to advance therapeutic development through pre-clinical and/or clinical testing of approaches addressing unmet needs of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The program is set up to benefit therapeutics with clear potential to prevent, stop, or delay disease progression or to reduce the burden of daily symptoms.

Funding will support projects aimed at:

Pre-Clinical: Identifying, validating and/or developing novel pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions through pre-clinical development from early screening to pre-clinical characterization and testing.
Clinical: Progressing promising interventions with strong pre-clinical packages into/through initial clinical assessment exploring pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, safety/tolerability, or early proof of biology and/or clinical efficacy. For novel targets, MJFF is particularly interested in de-risking programs by supporting early proof of concept in patients to gain insight into the therapeutic potential, including exploration of biomarker-based or clinical endpoint-based efficacy.

MJFF will prioritize projects with the strongest therapeutic rationale, patient value and preclinical-to-clinical translation potential.

The goal of this program is to increase the chances of moving therapies toward the clinic. To expedite the process, only industry and academia-industry partnerships in and outside the United States are welcome to apply. Applicants are permitted to submit multiple unique submissions but should NOT submit multiple pre-proposals supporting different stages or aspects of the same therapeutic development program. Applicants are also permitted and encouraged to re-submit a revised pre-proposal that addresses prior feedback provided by MJFF, if applicable.

The program will be divided into two stages with the goal of offering applicants frequent opportunities to propose novel and promising PD therapeutics:

Applicants may submit a pre-proposal application at any time. Pre-proposals will be reviewed by MJFF within three weeks of submission. This stage is your first and best opportunity to determine if MJFF is the right partner for you.
Applicants whose pre-proposal is selected for further consideration will be invited to submit a full proposal through one of the five review cycles (see full proposal due dates to the right). MJFF staff will work with applicants to define the most flexible and fastest option for review. Invited applicants will have the opportunity to consult with MJFF on proposal development. Funding decisions will be communicated within three months of full proposal submission.

MJFF offers calls to discuss the full proposal development for those invited to submit.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Focus Directly on Parkinson’s Disease — From Mechanism to Patient Impact

MJFF funds research across basic, translational, and clinical domains.

Proposals must have clear relevance to PD: whether exploring pathogenesis, biomarkers, symptomatic treatments, disease-modifying strategies, neuroprotection, progression, or quality of life.

Both academia and industry are eligible — including small biotech, major pharma, and allied-care professionals.

Predictor: Direct PD relevance, and a transparent path to improve lives of people with Parkinson’s, ranks highly.

2. Strong Therapeutic or Translational Rationale (for Pipeline / Therapeutic Grants)

For therapeutic development grants (e.g., under MJFF’s “Parkinson’s Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program”), priority is given to projects with strong therapeutic rationale, patient value, and clear preclinical-to-clinical translation potential.

MJFF has funded both small labs and industry — indicating openness to novel ideas whether early stage or more developed.

Predictor: If you propose a therapy — small molecule, biologic, device, biomarker-guided — ensure solid rationale and translational feasibility (e.g. dosing strategy, safety plan, clinically relevant endpoints).

3. Innovative and Ambitious Ideas — Including Novel Mechanisms or Biomarkers

MJFF states that no idea is “too novel” — they are open to bold, out-of-the-box thinking.

Their funding portfolio spans many types of research: biology, biomarkers, digital health, gait and motor symptoms, progression markers, non-motor symptoms.

Predictor: Novelty counts — especially for underexplored areas (biomarkers, non-motor symptoms, digital health, gait/balance, disease trajectory) or unconventional therapeutic paths.

4. Use of Appropriate Models, Data, or Cohorts — Including Access to Existing MJFF Resources

MJFF also funds research-enabling resources, not just hypothesis-driven studies. For example, tools, biomarkers, data sets, digital-health monitoring.

They encourage data/resource sharing, collaborations, and linking with consortiums for broader impact.

Predictor: Leveraging existing cohorts, biospecimens, or being ready to use shared resources (or create broadly usable tools) helps your application.

5. Clear, Feasible Study Design — With Defined Milestones and Translational Path

Especially for preclinical-to-clinical pipeline grants, reviewers look for realistic milestones that can move the project forward.

For clinical or biomarker research: robust methodology, clear endpoints, risk/benefit considerations, and patient value.

Predictor: A tightly scoped plan (2–4 aims), clear milestones, and realistic path to next phases increase chances of funding.

6. Investigator & Team Breadth — Academia + Industry + Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration

MJFF funds both academic researchers and industry/biotech clients — and often encourages public–private collaboration.

Their “Partnering Program” fosters collaboration to accelerate therapeutic development.

Predictor: A team combining basic scientists, clinicians, drug-development experts or tech developers — especially with collaborative or cross-disciplinary strength — is often viewed favorably.

7. Clear Benefit for Patients & Impact on Quality of Life or Disease Course

MJFF funds research spanning symptom management, motor and non-motor symptoms (gait, balance, cognition), biomarker studies, and disease-modification approaches.

They invest heavily — in 2025 alone, they awarded nearly $50 M across 70 grants — indicating high capacity and ambition.

Predictor: Projects that clearly articulate “how this helps people with Parkinson’s now or soon” — not just academic interest — tend to score better.

8. Commitment to Open Data, Sharing, and Consortium Participation

MJFF often supports consortia, shared data sets, collaborative resources, and open partnership models — acknowledging that PD research benefits from data sharing and community effort.

For example, biomarker and molecular-dataset initiatives recently funded involve large-scale resource generation for the community.

Predictor: If your proposal includes data sharing, resource generation, or network-building — this enhances value-for-money for MJFF and increases competitiveness.

9. Administrative Compliance & Principal Investigator as Primary Applicant

MJFF requires that the Principal Investigator (PI) be the main applicant. No co-PIs or paid collaborators listed as primary — ensures accountability and clarity.

Budget overlap with other active grants is prohibited: MJFF funding expects exclusivity for the proposed project.

Predictor: Clean, compliant applications with a single PI and no overlapping funding are far more likely to pass administrative screening.

🎯 What This Means — If You Plan to Apply to MJFF

If you’re preparing a MJFF proposal, aim to:

Tie your work directly to Parkinson’s disease, with a clear impact on biology, diagnostics, therapy, or patient quality-of-life.

For therapeutic or translational proposals — highlight a strong preclinical-to-clinic pathway, with solid rationale, feasibility, and milestones.

Leverage existing resources (MJFF cohorts, consortia, shared datasets) or propose to build tools/data for the community.

Assemble a diverse, multidisciplinary team if possible — basic science, clinical, industry or translational experts.

Focus on patient value — improved therapy, better biomarkers, symptom control, or data to speed therapeutics.

Make your research open, collaborative, and sharable — data-sharing, consortium participation, resource sharing are plus points.

Use a lean, clearly justified budget, and ensure no overlap with other funding.

Ensure the PI is clearly defined, and institutional support/commitments are explicit.

Specialties

Clinical Trials

Neurosciences

Eligibility Requirements

Proposals should also fulfill the following criteria:

The selected therapeutic target or mechanism should have strong biological rationale to be pursued as a therapeutic target for PD, such as a genetic link or based on prior validation data in relevant in vitro and/or in vivo models.
The proposed therapeutic approach is sufficiently differentiating from and believed to be superior to any of the currently existing therapies in the market or in development.
The proposal emphasizes how translational biomarkers will be used to monitor target engagement/modulation and hypothesized mechanism of action, as well as consideration of patient enrichment measures that can improve clinical trial design to de-risk further development.
For applications proposing clinical testing, the proposal has a patient-centered approach incorporating patient voice in the clinical development plan.

For this program, MJFF will not consider:

Applications seeking to identify new intervention targets (e.g., large-scale screening or genomic/transcriptomic analyses).
Applications seeking to validate a target with only tool compounds or biological manipulations that have no viable path for further drug optimization and development.
Applications seeking to test reformulation of commercially available drugs via a new route of administration.
Application seeking to assess efficacy of dietary supplements.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Fox (Michael J.) Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: P.O. Box 4777 New York, NY 10163-4777

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