Leveraging generous support from our donors, AFTD’s FTD Biomarkers Initiative is expanding. We are investing $2.5MM in the Diagnostics Accelerator program, an initiative announced earlier this year by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) with initial funding from Bill Gates, ADDF co-founder Leonard Lauder and other philanthropists.

AFTD’s investment will be matched by an additional $2.5MM from the Diagnostics Accelerator initiative. The result will be $5MM in additional funding dedicated specifically to developing biomarkers for FTD, within an initiative that will provide more than $35MM toward more effectively diagnosing all forms of dementia.

A biomarker – such as blood pressure for cardiovascular disease or blood sugar level for diabetes—provides measurable evidence of an underlying disease. Biomarkers are essential to the early diagnosis and effective treatment of many conditions, but none have yet been developed for FTD.

AFTD’s investment expands the scope of our FTD Biomarkers Initiative, launched in 2016. AFTD has also enjoyed a longstanding research partnership with the ADDF, forged through a shared belief that advances in the scientific knowledge base regarding one form of dementia may lead to breakthroughs in other related conditions.

“We know today that addressing neurodegenerative disease in any form requires a collaborative effort,” said AFTD chief executive officer Susan L-J Dickinson. “AFTD has a long history of research collaboration with the ADDF, and we are grateful to be joining forces again, in collaboration with Bill Gates and other generous funders.”

Read a joint press release on the expanded Diagnostics Accelerator initiative here.  Please visit AFTD’s website to learn more about our FTD Biomarker Initiative.