The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) is a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization based in

Saratoga, California Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, its population was 31,051 at the 2020 census. Saratoga is an affluent residential community, known for its wineries, restaurants, and attra ...

. The organization applies a collaborative business model to the process of medical research with the aim of accelerating the identification and development of new patient treatments. MRF's goal is to license its first

drug target A biological target is anything within a living organism to which some other entity (like an endogenous ligand (biochemistry), ligand or a drug) is directed and/or binds, resulting in a change in its behavior or function. Examples of common classes ...

for commercial

drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for re ...

by July 1, 2009, five years after the organization began funding research. The MRF was created by entrepreneur Scott Johnson in 2002, and began funding research in 2004. On June 22, 2015, the Foundation announced that due to a lack of financing, it would begin the process of winding down. However, additional donors stepped in to provide funding for the Foundation to continue its work with a smaller staff.

Background

The Myelin Repair Foundation was founded in 2002 by Scott Johnson, a California entrepreneur. Johnson had been diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

at the age of 20. When given his prognosis, he was told that an effective therapy would probably not be on the market for another 30 to 50 years. “If someone is diagnosed now…they’d probably hear the same thing,” Johnson says. “And that’s pretty frustrating.”

The ARC Model

The MRF conducts research according to the Accelerated Research Collaboration (ARC) model, which also guides the organization's goals and objectives. Under the ARC model, MRF-funded researchers in different labs design and carry out experiments together and share results in real time, thus accelerating the rate at which medical discoveries are made. The results, called “potential drug or therapeutic targets,” are then validated, patented and licensed to a pharmaceutical partner who will take them through the clinical trials process and into a new treatment. The MRF actively manages the drug discovery process from its origins in basic research through to the clinical trials process where new treatments are produced.

Advisory boards

MRF receives scientific and industry guidance from a board of directors, a scientific advisory board, a business advisory committee, and a Drug Discovery Advisory Group. Members of these advisory and governing boards include Andy Cates of the Value Acquisition Fund; Dr. Stephen Hauser of the University of California at San Francisco; Dr. Christopher Lipinski; and Dr. Mark Scheidler of the National Institutes of Health–National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Funding

The MRF is funded by individuals, foundations, and corporations: including the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

; the Donaghue Foundation; the Thomas H. Maren Foundation; the Penates Foundation; the

Pioneer Fund Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first projects w ...

; William K. Bowes, Founder,

U.S. Venture Partners U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) is a venture capital investment firm specializing in early-stage ventures in enterprise software, cybersecurity, consumer, e-commerce, healthcare, and IT-enabled healthcare services. The venture capital partnership ...

;

Scott Cook Scott David Cook (born 1952) is an American billionaire businessman who co-founded Intuit. Cook is also a director of eBay and Procter & Gamble. Early life Cook holds a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from the University of So ...

, founder and chairman of the executive committee of

Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application Tu ...

Corporation; the

Omidyar Network Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5billion to n ...

;

Biogen Idec Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. History ...

; and the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation.

In the news

The MRF has been profiled several times in the national media, including features in ''The

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''The

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

''. It has also been used as an example in books such as ''The Definitive Drucker'', by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim; ''

The Culture of Collaboration ''The Culture of Collaboration'' is a business book by Evan Rosen. It's the first book in The ''Culture of Collaboration'' series by Rosen. The second book in the series is ''The Bounty Effect: 7 Steps to the Culture of Collaboration''. ''The Bou ...

'', by

Evan Rosen Evan Rosen is an American author, speaker, business strategist, blogger, and journalist. He is Executive Director of The Culture of Collaboration Institute and Chief Strategist of Impact Video Communication, Inc., which he co-founded. Rosen is the ...

, and ''We Are the New Radicals'', by

Julia Moulden Julia Moulden is a Canadian author, speaker, speechwriter and communications consultant who is based in Toronto, Ontario. She has published three books and has written and been featured in several periodicals, newspapers and other media. Career Jul ...

.''Myelin Repair Foundation,'' “MRF Newsroom.”
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References

External links

* * Begley, Sharon. ''Wall Street Journal''. “Anxious For Cures, Grant Givers Turn More Demanding.” September 29, 2004. Page A1. * Groopman, Jerome. ''The New Yorker''. “Buying a Cure.” January 28, 200

* Hagel, John, and John Seely Brown. “Myelin Repair Foundation’s Institutional Innovation.” ''BusinessWeek''. May 7, 2008.

* Schonfeld, Eric. ''Fortune''. “One Man’s Crusade for a Cure.” September 21, 2006.

* Tansey, Bernadette. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. “Not For Profit – Just For Hope.” March 29, 2008.

* ''Forbes''. “Opexa Therapeutics and the Myelin Repair Foundation Partner on Novel Multiple Sclerosis Research Programs.” September 3, 2008

{{authority control Multiple sclerosis organizations Medical research institutes in California Neuroscience research centers in California 2002 establishments in California Organizations established in 2002