Deadlines
Letter of Intent: September 30, 2024
Submission: December 09, 2024
Description
Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) encompasses a spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders (behavioral variant FTD, primary progressive aphasia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and FTD – ALS), which have in common degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex but present with varied biological mechanisms, clinical symptoms and prognoses. Although the most common form of dementia under age 60, FTD is considered a rare disorder, affecting approximately 50,000 60,000 people in the US. Clinical and pathological heterogeneity, low prevalence, the occurrence of both genetic and sporadic forms of FTD, and a limited repertoire of biomarkers collectively create unique challenges for FTD drug development. As a result, there are currently no approved treatments that delay or halt the progression of FTD disorders or that effectively treat symptoms. While there are increasing numbers of promising treatments entering clinical trials, the number remains small, and none have yet resulted in regulatory approval.
Goals
Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) encompasses a spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders (behavioral variant FTD, primary progressive aphasia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and FTD – ALS), which have in common degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex but present with varied biological mechanisms, clinical symptoms and prognoses. Although the most common form of dementia under age 60, FTD is considered a rare disorder, affecting approximately 50,000 60,000 people in the US. Clinical and pathological heterogeneity, low prevalence, the occurrence of both genetic and sporadic forms of FTD, and a limited repertoire of biomarkers collectively create unique challenges for FTD drug development. As a result, there are currently no approved treatments that delay or halt the progression of FTD disorders or that effectively treat symptoms. While there are increasing numbers of promising treatments entering clinical trials, the number remains small, and none have yet resulted in regulatory approval.
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) launched the Treat FTD Fund to provide critical funding for early-stage clinical trials to:
- help address the challenges to drug development outlined above
- build on emerging scientific understanding of biological mechanisms underlying FTD
- stimulate the field to develop new disease-modifying and symptomatic therapies for FTD disorders
- leverage previous research from related conditions to repurpose existing therapies for the benefit of FTD patients
- advance the development, validation and adoption of informative biomarkers and clinically meaningful outcome assessments
- Enable novel trial designs and technologies and develop improved methodologies and protocols to optimize clinical trial design for the FTD patient population
For more information, please see the opportunity webpage.