Sergey Brin's Search for Parkinson's Cure

[olsen]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/0...ys_search/all/

Sometimes I just don't understand people. Seriously, this guy has 15 billion dollar and he only invests 50 million dollar on Parkinsons research ? I read stories about some companies having difficulties to do a promising clinical trial because they need to find 15 million dollar. This guy has billions of dollars and almost invests nothing of it to cure a disease from which his mother suffered and he himself can suffer with high probability. Couldn't he invest 500 million dollar ? Wouldn't that make more sense ? And I am not even saying he should give it away in a charity kind of way. In exchange he might even get some of the profit of the companies he invested in. So it would be a double win-win for him. Sometimes I don't get these rich people. What on earth are you gonna do with 15 billion dollar ???

[soccertese]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...re-health.html

Brin, who began donating to Parkinson’s research in 2005, accelerated that giving after he learned in 2008 he has a flawed gene that presents him with a 50 percent chance of getting the disease by age 70. So far Brin has donated $132 million, mostly through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, to help create a DNA database of 7,000 patients and to support work on the first targeted treatments that aim at the genetic causes of the movement disorder.

“If I felt it was guaranteed to cure Parkinson’s disease a check for a billion dollars would be the easiest one I have written,” he said in an interview. “Pretty much everybody in the world has or will have some serious condition. How much is it worth to you to have that condition be potentially curable?”

Among the recipients of Brin’s largess is the company his wife, Anne Wojcicki, started to create a database of genetic information and which found that Brin had the Parkinson’s
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he seems receptive to much larger donations. hopefully research he has already funded will give him other avenues to invest his money.

[Conductor71]

Unless Brin can find a way to reform the scientific research method and placebo trials, there really is no gain from generating more research. Search PubMed and you'll see the same thing from ten years ago.

I think Brin has already done a tremendous amount in just setting up a PD patient database for data mining. He is light years ahead in that context.

We already have too many pieces to the puzzle with not a soul working on putting it together. We need meta analysis and global thinking and that is if there is only one cure to PD, which I don't believe there is because it is a syndrome with varying pathways, we won't find it until someone looks at the bigger picture.

Why is no one calling out Adidas? In April, they had a sports + new gadget campaign where people counted calories burned and somehow it was to benefit PD research. It all relied on the number of said gadgets Adidas sold. How much were they giving? $50,000! That is beyond insulting considering they are worth $400 million!

Originally Posted by Conductor71

Unless Brin can find a way to reform the scientific research method and placebo trials, there really is no gain from generating more research. Search PubMed and you'll see the same thing from ten years ago.

I tend to disagree. Brin can invest to change these methods. Invest to speed up finding biomarkers. Another example ... ArmaGen found a smart way to get meds passed the BBB. But they lack money for clinical trials. In many cases lack of money slows down the PD research.

Originally Posted by Conductor71

I think Brin has already done a tremendous amount in just setting up a PD patient database for data mining. He is light years ahead in that context.

Yes, I do agree with this.

Originally Posted by Conductor71

We already have too many pieces to the puzzle with not a soul working on putting it together. We need meta analysis and global thinking and that is if there is only one cure to PD, which I don't believe there is because it is a syndrome with varying pathways, we won't find it until someone looks at the bigger picture.

I notice you always emphasize the fact that there is more than 1 PD. But I think scientist are aware of this. The problem has been to know which groups you have and to know in which group people belong. Because of recent advances in genetics scientist are getting a better picture of this and clinical trials will be conducted in a different way.

Originally Posted by Conductor71

Why is no one calling out Adidas? In April, they had a sports + new gadget campaign where people counted calories burned and somehow it was to benefit PD research. It all relied on the number of said gadgets Adidas sold. How much were they giving? $50,000! That is beyond insulting considering they are worth $400 million!

Well, I am calling out on Brin because 50 million dollar is not even 0.5 % of the 15 billion he has. His excuse ... "if I knew a cure would be found, it would be easy to hand out a 1 billion dollar bill" ... is a bit lame. If everyone would think in this way, then we would never find a cure. He doesn't need to invest to be 100 % sure to find a cure. He should invest to bring the community closer to the cure, and possibly even find the cure. And it is for his own sake. There is always a risk that you lose your investment. He is a succesfull businessman so he should be the first one to realize this. But anyway, assume in worst case he invests 1 billion dollar and no cure will be found (which I really can't believe !!!) ... so what ? He still has 14 billion dollar left. Isn't that enough ?

The ADIDAS story is indeed a shame. I will never buy from ADIDAS again.

[Debi Brooks]

As recipients of funds from both the Brin Wojcicki Foundation and Nike (inadvertently called Adidas below) I thought I might add some color.

Sergey and Anne has donated over $125M to MJFF in the last several years of which the current $50M challenge/matching grant through the end of 2012 is the latest installment. This kind of philanthropy is staggering and is transformative in terms of MJFF's funding portfolio. As I have mentioned before, while more money is better than less, it is really how you spend the money that will make the greatest difference. I believe that Sergey and Anne have direct their philanthropy through MJFF because of our strategic funding approach. 23andMe has also worked with MJFF to build their online PD community as well--for similar reasons. Science is complex and expensive but can be smarter and faster. Their remarkable support is really enabling our model to move swiftly and with impact for patients front and center.

In terms of Nike (not Adidas), last year they manufactured and sold 1500 MAG sneakers with all gross proceeds coming to MJFF. $4.7M over a 10-day period that also earned the BWF match--nearly $10M in total. It was a fantastic campaign to raise awareness and research dollars. Earlier this year, in anticipation of a thank you trip to Nike headquarters by Michael J. Fox, myself and other MJFF colleagues, the company sponsored a 3-day mission to raise awareness and money for MJFF. Thousands of folks (who already own fuel bands -- a commercial Nike product) responded to an incentive established by Nike to raise additional funds. It was an impromptu campaign that resulted in yet more money for research.

Millions donated by Sergey and Anne as well as Nike are millions that are already fast at work trying to accelerate drug development for PD. MJFF is extremely grateful for this support and I hope that the PD community sees this as a positive as well.

Debi

Originally Posted by Debi Brooks

As recipients of funds from both the Brin Wojcicki Foundation and Nike (inadvertently called Adidas below) I thought I might add some color.

Sergey and Anne has donated over $125M to MJFF in the last several years of which the current $50M challenge/matching grant through the end of 2012 is the latest installment. This kind of philanthropy is staggering and is transformative in terms of MJFF's funding portfolio. As I have mentioned before, while more money is better than less, it is really how you spend the money that will make the greatest difference. I believe that Sergey and Anne have direct their philanthropy through MJFF because of our strategic funding approach. 23andMe has also worked with MJFF to build their online PD community as well--for similar reasons. Science is complex and expensive but can be smarter and faster. Their remarkable support is really enabling our model to move swiftly and with impact for patients front and center.

In terms of Nike (not Adidas), last year they manufactured and sold 1500 MAG sneakers with all gross proceeds coming to MJFF. $4.7M over a 10-day period that also earned the BWF match--nearly $10M in total. It was a fantastic campaign to raise awareness and research dollars. Earlier this year, in anticipation of a thank you trip to Nike headquarters by Michael J. Fox, myself and other MJFF colleagues, the company sponsored a 3-day mission to raise awareness and money for MJFF. Thousands of folks (who already own fuel bands -- a commercial Nike product) responded to an incentive established by Nike to raise additional funds. It was an impromptu campaign that resulted in yet more money for research.

Millions donated by Sergey and Anne as well as Nike are millions that are already fast at work trying to accelerate drug development for PD. MJFF is extremely grateful for this support and I hope that the PD community sees this as a positive as well.

Debi

Thanks for clarifying this. Sometimes people, me included, are way too negative because the feeling of having no power to control the situation and blame anyone for the situation they are in at the moment. We should indeed be thankful for these people for investing in PD. In my country government didn't invest a single euro in PD research in 2011. Now that is something to be ashamed of.

I have 1 remark though ... of course it is very important how you invest your money. But I think organizations like MJFF know the best way to invest it. And I agree that 20 years ago it would have been useless to invest tons of money in research because science wasn't that evolved. But now, science is much more advanced than it was 20 years ago. Money can make the difference now ... at least this is the feeling I have. Scientist have a much better understanding of what happens in PD. Scientists have the tools to do proper research (like making neurons from skin cells, fast DNA sequencing, advanced brain scans, ... ).