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Here is a listing of our current media-related activities and resources along with links to our archive:

Articles and Press Coverage

The Atlantic, "Will Patients Bear the Burden for Developing Their Own Treatments?," May 10, 2012.
The Atlantic, "Mission Critical: How Disease-Specific Foundations May Save Medical Research," April 20, 2012.
San Francisco Business Times, "One-on-One with UCSF researcher Jonah Chan," April 19, 2012.
Huffington Post, "Hilary Rosen Should Donate to Multiple Sclerosis Foundations," April 12, 2012.
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, "Clinical trial to target multiple sclerosis," March 7, 2012.
Xconomy, "Disease foundations play growing role in biotech business model," March 6, 2012.
USA Today, "Parents of twins with rare disease fight for FDA approval of treatment," March 6, 2012.
Drug Discovery News, "Engendering the collaborative spirit to cure MS," March 2012.
Clinical trial examines Myelin Toleraization of the Immune System — Drug Discovery & Development Magazine. (3-8-12)
Partnering for a Cure: Stanford Social Innovation Review features Ideas/First Person column by Scott Johnson. (10-25-11)
California Health Institute blog posts Q&A with Scott Johnson about his personal mission to push the boundaries of biomedical collaboration. (5-5-11)
NY Times columnist David Bornstein: "Serving as a kind of switchboard, where people from different disciplines and sectors converge, M.R.F. can recognize opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed." Read more about how the Myelin Repair Foundation is crossing boundaries to accelerate research. (5-5-11)
NY Times columnist David Bornstein: "The explosion in biomedical sciences has made it virtually impossible for industry researchers to keep up." Read more about how the Myelin Repair Foundation is part of the solution. (5-2-11)
Fast Company (3-1-11): Myelin Repair Foundation Named Among Top 10 Biotechs.
Fast Company (2-4-11): Online Game Crowdsources Ideas to Accelerate Medical Research
The Scientist features the Myelin Repair Foundation in an article that examines how nonprofit, for-profit pharma groups are working together to make drugs more affordable for developing countries. Read more: The Profits of Nonprofit. (January 1, 2011)
Myelin Repair Foundation-hosted Breakthroughs to Cures named #7 among top 10 social impact games of 2010. (December 31, 2010)
Myelin Repair Group Works to Develop Drugs, Cure MS (December 27, 2010)
Fast Company — Nov. 1, 2010 – “The Myelin Repair Foundation Encourages Collaboration for a Cure”
Kauffman Foundation Translational Medicine Alliance 2010 Forum, Washington, DC. October 13-14. Scott Johnson spoke on the panel, “Rethinking Everything: If we were starting over, what would we do differently” with Jonathan Jacoby from The R.A.R.E. Project and Lt Col Daniel J. Wattendorf, MD from DARPA.
UC Davis Alumni Magazine – Fall 2010 – Spotlight’s Scott Johnson’s work with the Myelin Repair Foundation
E-Week — “Online Gaming Event Seeks to Spur Search for Cures to Intractable Diseases” (Sep. 30, 2010)
Huffington PostJulia Moulden covers Breakthroughs to Cures – Sep. 25, 2010
PBS Newshour — Sep. 23, 2010 – “For Scientists, Collaborative Efforts Could Speed Medical Advances
FierceBiotech Research — Sep. 14, 2010 – “Foundation uses gaming to inspire rad R&D thinking”
Smart Business Northern California — July 2010 – “Engaging the Chain”
Newsweek — May 10, 2010“Desperately Seeking Cures” Mary Carmichael and Sharon Begley discuss how the road from promising scientific breakthrough to real-world remedy has become all but a dead end. The Myelin Repair Foundation is mentioned as a model for fixing the system.
Kansas City Business Journal — March 26, 2010 – “Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Continues Push For Commercializing Drugs”
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal — October 16, 2009 – Foundation’s research model in Saratoga aims to halve clinical trial time.
Forbes Magazine — July 13, 2009 – What Brain Researchers Forgot Kerry Dolan discusses a recent discovery by one of our Principal Investigators, Ben Barres, on the role of glial cells. Because of the unique functions that these cells perform in the brain, Myelin Repair Foundation scientists hope to exploit their therapeutic potential in further studies.
KansasCity.com — May 11, 2009 – Company turns research process on its head.
Elizabeth Edersheim Blog — April 2009 – Working Together to Heal
America.gov — December 2008 – Foundation Tests Entrepreneurial Model for Medical Research
Newsweek On Science — November 2008 – Where are the Cures? Scientists Call the Gulf between Biomedical Discovery and New Treatment the ‘Valley of Death’
MS Focus Magazine — Summer 2008 – Paths to Progress features Myelin Repair Foundation update on myelin repair research.
biotechTransfer week — June 4, 2008 – Myelin Repair Foundation Taps CDD Software to Support ‘Accelerated’ Academic Research
BusinessWeek — May 7, 2008 – John Hagel and John Seely Brown review Myelin Repair Foundation’s ARC model in Innovation on the Edge.
San Francisco Chronicle — March 29, 2008 – Non-Profit Gears Up for Biotech Roadshow
The New Yorker— January 28, 2008 – Buying a Cure
Wall Street Journal – December 6, 2007 – Big Pharma Faces Grim Prognosis Barbara Martinez and Jacob Goldstein write about the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry as a result of top-selling drugs going off-patent along with the poor outlook for new blockbusters.
View entire articles and press coverage archive.

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Related News Articles

The Economist – December 10, 2009 – Back to the lab Roche CEO Severin Schwan acknowledges today’s challenges for the pharmaceutical industry: “Drugmaking is ‘so crude’, Schwan argues, that half of all known diseases cannot be treated at all, and the drugs for the other half work properly only half the time and with huge side effects. ‘Imagine a car that starts only half the time, and whose brakes often don’t work,’ he says.”
Forbes- July 13, 2009 – What Brain Researchers Forgot. Forbes Magazine’s Kerry Dolan discusses a recent discovery by one of our Principal Investigators, Ben Barres, on the role of glial cells. Glial cells include oligodendrocytes (responsible for myelination) and astrocytes (the subject of the report), which represents the group of cells in the brain that is studied by Myelin Repair Foundation scientists. As the article points out, glial cells constitute 90% of the cells in the brain and are involved in promoting important neural functions. The article suggests the manipulation of glial cells as an innovative approach to treating neurodegenerative disorders. Because of the unique functions that these cells perform in the brain, Myelin Repair Foundation scientists hope to exploit their therapeutic potential in further studies. Read and share today!
The New York Times – June 27, 2009 – Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe New York Times reporter, Gina Kolata, sheds light on flaws in traditional medical research funding. Read and share today!
Newsweek – June 15, 2009 – From Bench to Bedside: Academia slows the search for cures. Newsweek’s Sharon Begley takes the NIH to task for not meeting its commitment to translational research and encourages President Obama to appoint an NIH director who can make bench to bedside a reality. Share it with all who care about speeding cures to patients

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Press Releases

The Myelin Repair Foundation Welcomes University of California, San Francisco’s Dr. Jonah Chan to its Research Consortium (May 8, 2012)
Multiple Sclerosis Expert Dr. Alfred Sandrock from Biogen Idec Joins the Myelin Repair Foundation's Clinical Advisory Board (March 13, 2012)
Myelin Repair Foundation's President Scott Johnson awarded the Research!America Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award. (March 12, 2012)
Myelin Repair Foundation Research Fosters a Clinical Trial for Multiple Sclerosis. (March 7, 2012)
The Myelin Repair Foundation and ENDECE Neural Form Collaboration to Develop Myelin Regenerative Compounds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Treatment. (February 8, 2012)
Myelin Repair Foundation Launches the New Myelin Repair Foundation Translational Medicine Center. (January 4, 2012)
Research!America Honors Scott Johnson for Advocacy for Medical Research. (October 5, 2011)
Mice stem cells guided into myelinating cells by the trillions. (September 25, 2011)
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Grants Myelin Repair Foundation $750,000 to advance human cell cultures for myelin repair. (September 20, 2011)
Fast Company Names the Myelin Repair Foundation Among Top 10 Biotechs for Innovation (February 16, 2011)
Gamers Forecast Use of Mobile Devices and Social Networks to Accelerate Medical Research (January 31, 2011)
Myelin Repair Foundation announces 40+ drug candidate repurposing opportunities for myelin repair. (January 10, 2011)
The Ultimate Experiment: Can Gaming Technology Resuscitate Medical Research? (PDF). (September 7, 2010)
Notable Foundations Join Forces to Support Accelerated Drug Development Model(PDF). (March 25, 2010)

Slides & transcript from Webinar on “Developing Cures with Less Time & Capital” (March 25, 2010)

New Patient Advocacy Initiative Calls for Accountability in Medical Research, Asks “Where Are The Cures?” (February 16, 2010)
Myelin Repair Foundation Names Mike Gresser, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer. (January 8, 2010)
Myelin Repair Foundation Announces Chemistry Collaboration with Dalton Pharma Services. (October 22, 2008)
Collaborative Drug Discovery and Myelin Repair Foundation Announce Partnership. (May 27, 2008)
Myelin Repair Foundation Names Six Senior Pharma Execs to Drug Discovery Advisory Group (DDAG). (February 6, 2008)
Myelin Repair Foundation Appoints Vice President of Drug Discovery. (January 31, 2007)
Scientific American Names Scott Johnson Among Top 50 Worldwide for Innovations in Multiple Sclerosis Research. (November 6, 2006)
Myelin Repair Foundation Receives $1.2 Million Grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Further Accelerated Scientific Research Model. (September 21, 2005)
Myelin Repair Foundation Raises First $5 Million: Omidyar Network Caps First Round Funding. (July 18, 2005)
Scientists Identify Molecular "Switches" Affecting Myelin Repair in Multiple Sclerosis. (June 14, 2005)

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Research Reports

Summary of Game Results Details and ideas that resulted from the first-of-a-kind crowd sourcing project.
Myelin Repair Research Highlights (2009)
Annual Review of Research Progress 2006 – 2007 (PDF)
Winter 2007 – Myelin Repair Foundation Research Progress Update (PDF)
View entire research reports archive.

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Whitepapers

Accelerated Research Collaboration™ (ARC™) (PDF)
Research Plan Summary (PDF)
Comments from Myelin Repair Foundation participants (PDF)
Background Whitepaper (PDF)
Background Summary (PDF) December 2003
View entire whitepaper archive.

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Our work is made possible by the generous donations of individuals, foundations and corporations who believe in the promise of myelin repair and share our commitment to deliver a new treatment to MS patients as fast as possible.

Please help us maintain our momentum. Your gift today will help us reach the first myelin repair Phase I Clinical Trial by 2014.

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