Central nervous system (CNS) disorders afflict approximately 300 million people worldwide. They often span many years and are severely debilitating. And, in addition to the personal cost to patients and families, the economic burden reaches an estimated $1.5 trillion annually in the U.S.

Significant investment in the development of new therapies must be made to improve outcomes for people suffering from CNS disorders. Unraveling the disease pathways contributing to these disorders and identifying novel molecular targets for drug intervention are essential steps toward developing new treatment avenues.

That is why The ALS Association, the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA), and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. are launching a crowdsourcing challenge called the Teva CNS Target Identification Challenge to seek novel targets with therapeutic potential. Researchers from around the world are being asked to submit proposals for novel drug targets implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, including ALS, Huntington’s disease (HD), Parkinson's disease (PD), migraine and headache disorders, and chronic pain. Solutions will be considered for monetary awards and funded collaborative research projects with Teva.

To further our mission to advance the development of new therapies to benefit people living with ALS, The ALS Association is co-sponsoring the Challenge with Teva, along with co-funding the ALS-related Challenge awards. The Association will consider top ALS-related submissions for grant awards toward a collaborative translational research project with Teva relating to the novel target.

Read the press release for more information: http://bit.ly/2GiCjha

More details about the Challenge can be found at https://www.innocentive.com/TEVAchallenge