BACK TO THE FUTURE’s Michael J. Fox has raised over $3 billion for Parkinson’s disease research since 2000, and now he says health scientists are “close” to finding a cure.
“[I knew] my name could attract attention to help us achieve our goals faster. But I also have this disease. I know the issues and I share my community’s sense of urgency,” Fox told PEOPLE.
The Lasker Foundation, which gives rewards for notable scientific research, awarded the Michael J. Fox Foundation with the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award this year.
Fox was a 29-year-old in 1991 when he was diagnosed with the disease, which has gotten worse with time.
“Of course, things have gotten harder over the years,” he admitted. But, “I’m privileged to commit my time and energy to bringing everything I’ve got to help cure this disease.”
He’s proud his foundation has gotten recognized for its work.
“Lasker winners show the world what science can achieve when we keep our eyes on the prize. To be included in that company is humbling,” the SHRINKING actor said. The honor is shared with “the researchers and clinicians on the front lines of cure hunting, and the patients and families who critically inform that mission,” he added.
Related: How Michael J. Fox Takes ‘Each Day as It Comes’ Amid Parkinson’s Battle
While he still acts when he can, his priority lies with the foundation. It’s about to launch a new campaign, which aims to raise $2.5 billion for research.
“The Foundation’s work is about driving toward a world without Parkinson’s. We don’t know exactly when it’ll happen, but it will happen,” Fox said. “Science is hard. It’s astronomically expensive. It takes time and collaboration.”
He recognizes that with hope, focus and funds, the foundation will one day achieve its mission.
“We’re seeing more research breakthroughs every year, new drugs to help patients live well, and better tools to help scientists move faster. It’s heartening progress. And we’re going to stay on it till the job is done,” he said.
The Yale School of Medicine reported yesterday, Sep. 10, that a new clinical trial will be the first to test whether a new drug, adalimumab (Humira), will slow or prevent onset of Parkinson’s in people who are at risk.
“This is the first clinical trial of its kind to use an immunologically-based approach to try to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” said one of the study’s lead clinicians, Jesse Cedarbaum, MD, professor of neurology.
An experimental kind of cell therapy treatment for Parkinson’s recently hit a new milestone. The treatment, sasineprocel (ANPD001), uses a patient’s own cells to replace dopaminergic neurons, which are cells that are lost in Parkinson’s patients. The researchers just completed doses in its third and fourth groups of patients.
“We are proud to reach this important milestone, which reflects meaningful progress in the sasineprocel program and underscores the growing clinical experience with our personalized, autologous approach,” Damien McDevitt, PhD, Aspen Nueroscience’s president and CEO, said in a company press release. “Importantly, the use of our commercial formulation in these [patient groups] represents a critical step toward scalable manufacturing and commercial readiness as we prepare for Phase 3 initiation.”
Meaningful progress is clearly underway. Hopefully, this harmful disease can be cured very soon.
Read Next: How Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Impacted His Children
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