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Contact: Portfolio Director: Jane Larkindale, Ph.D. (520) 615- 6702 jlarkindale@mdavp.org
MDA Venture Philanthropy (MVP) does not provide traditional grants, but rather makes targeted investments in drug development for neuromuscular disease. Projects will be milestone-driven, contract-mediated and a return on investment will be negotiated. MVP utilizes a professional diligence process and is committed to a 16-week turnaround on investment decisions.
Investment Profile: MVP invests in small pharmaceutical and biotech companies and in academics developing treatments and therapies for neuromuscular diseases. Companies may be public or private, and MVP does not discriminate between U.S. and international projects. MVP funds academic investigators doing appropriate studies but encourages corporate collaboration. MVP seeks to apply funding where it will achieve the greatest leverage to increase the number of effective drugs in development for neuromuscular diseases. As such, well-financed projects that will proceed without MVP investment may not be selected for funding.
Therapeutic Areas:
- Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD)
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease)
- Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
- Other neuromuscular diseases (Friedreich’s ataxia, other muscular dystrophies, metabolic diseases of muscle, myasthenia gravis, etc.)
Stage of Research: MVP funds projects from proof-of-principle studies through Phase II trials. Projects may include optimization, toxicology, manufacturing and scale-up, pre-IND, Phase I or early Phase II trials.
Size and Time Frame of Investment: MVP will consider funding investments in the range of $500,000 to $3 million, depending on the stage of research. Funding will generally be for one to three years, but follow-on investment may be negotiated if all milestones are met and the project moves into later phases of development. MVP acknowledges that drug development is a long process, and that the horizon for drug approval may be up to 10 years after MVP investment. The following ranges are guidelines for the value of investment that MVP may put into projects at each stage.
- Research and Development (up to $500,000)
- Preclinical ($500,000 to $1 million)
- Early Clinical (Phase I/II) ($1 million to $3 million)
If you are interested in investment by MVP, please contact Jane Larkindale at jlarkindale@mdavp.org to discuss your fit with the MVP portfolios. The MVP Contact Form constitutes a letter of intent to apply for funding.
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