In the early 1950s, a small group of parents, people with muscular dystrophy and their friends started a volunteer organization, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, to raise money for research into the causes of the disease that mysteriously wasted muscle and shortened lives.
In the decades to follow, MDA became a leading voluntary health agency that funds researchers in academic and scientific institutions worldwide, thanks to donations from caring and dedicated citizens plus dollars from vital corporate partnerships.
MDA grant recipients — bolstered by its network of clinic directors, physicians, and medical and scientific advisory committees — are responsible for the most significant findings in human understanding of neuromuscular diseases. Groundbreaking discoveries include the genetic cause of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the cause of an inherited form of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and the first FDA-approved, lifesaving treatment for infants affected by acid maltase deficiency (Pompe disease).
MVP is the next level for that research: It seeks to leverage the long-term investment that MDA has made in science, manpower and infrastructure, and make strategic investments in therapeutics with promising paths to market, and hasten the process of bringing vital treatments to the people who need them. |
