Ten biopharmaceutical companies today announced that they would collaborate to build a new nonprofit organization designed to accelerate drug development. Called TransCelerate, the Philadelphia-based organization will focus its initial energies on improving the execution of clinical trials across the industry.

Mark Frasier, PhD, vice president of research programs at MJFF, is at the Pharmaceutical Strategic Alliance Conference in New York, where today’s announcement was being discussed.

“This could be a great idea for standardizing clinical trial infrastructure throughout the pharmaceutical industry,” he says, “which would, in turn, make a big difference in accelerating trials.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commended industry’s new move toward working together.

“This collaborative approach in the pre-competitive arena… has the promise to lead to new paradigms and cost savings in drug development, all of which would strengthen the industry and its ability to develop innovative and much-needed therapies for patients,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Stay tuned to this space for further insight into what TransCelerate could mean for speeding new treatments to market.

Of course, accelerating clinical trials is a cause that is close to the Foundation’s heart, as they are the final, critical step on the way to developing new treatments for PD.

One way MJFF is working to do this is to improve clinical trial recruitment: 85% of clinical trials face delays due to limited participation. That’s why the Foundation launched Fox Trial Finder , a clinical trial matching tool designed to tackle this problem head-on.  This past weekend, Fox Trial Finder already reached its year-end goal of 10,000 registered volunteers - four months early.

MJFF now has a new goal: to get to 15,000 by year’s end. Create a profile at Fox Trial Finder today to help us reach this goal.