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Grifols Secures $21M MJFF Grant to Search for Early Parkinson's Biomarkers

NEW YORK – Grifols said Tuesday that is has won a $21 million grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to identify early plasma-based biomarkers for Parkinson's disease.

The Spanish firm, through its subsidiary Alkahest, will use the award to fund a pilot study called Chronos-PD. This initiative will analyze longitudinal plasma samples taken from Parkinson's patients over a 10-year period to enable researchers to track how plasma proteins change over time and identify early-detection methods and new therapies for the disease.

Grifols will support the project with Parkinson's plasma samples stored in its repository of over 100 million patient samples across various diseases that it has built over the past 15 years.

Importantly, the approach used in Chronos-PD can also be applied to other disorders.

"Going back in time to search for the earliest signs of PD, even before symptoms appear, has potential to revolutionize PD management," Jörg Schüttrumpf, Grifols' chief scientific innovation officer, said in a statement. "The hope is to accelerate and ultimately develop new diagnostics and disease-modifying therapeutics that could mitigate or even prevent the condition from manifesting itself."