Booster Therapeutics and Vincere Biosciences have separately announced grants of $5 million each from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) in support of scientific discovery and clinical trials for therapies to alleviate and halt Parkinson’s disease.
The award to Booster Therapeutics in Berlin, Germany, will drive efforts to develop proteasome activation medicines, treatments to combat the accumulation of deviant proteins in cells, a major driver of Parkinson’s and other complex neurodegenerative diseases. The funding will help advance research as Booster Therapeutics works toward first-in-human phase 1 studies.
The award to Vincere Biosciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will help advance an initiative to identify promising candidate “inhibitor” therapies to slow or halt disease progression and alleviate its symptoms—with clinical trials anticipated in 2026. In addition, the funding will back biomarker research to evaluate target engagement and guide the translation of discoveries into future therapies.
“Developing treatments that target the root biological drivers of Parkinson’s is essential to delivering meaningful benefits for people living with the disease,” said MJFF lead scientific program manager Jessica Tomé Garcia. “Through [our partnerships] we aim to advance innovative approaches that strengthen the overall Parkinson’s therapy pipeline and move us closer to transformative treatments.”
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