NCTalks: Mark Frasier on precision medicine for Parkinson’s disease

In this edition of NCTalks we speak to Mark Frasier, Senior Vice President of research programs at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (NY, USA). Mark co-manages a team of research professionals who are developing a targeted and innovative agenda for accelerating research and drug development for Parkinson’s disease. Mark also supports the Foundation’s priority interest in developing biomarkers for the disease that will accelerating clinical trials for new drugs.
In this interview, Mark discusses a recent Editorial (Parkinson’s disease is ready for precision medicine) from the Michael J. Fox Foundation published in Personalized Medicine, and looks ahead to the future of precision medicine for Parkinson’s disease.

Summary:

00.08 – Introduction

00.48 – We recently featured the editorial, ‘Parkinson’s disease is ready for precision medicine’, which received a lot of attention – please could you give us a brief overview of the article?

02.20 – What are the main barriers to be overcome before precision medicine for Parkinson’s disease can become a reality?

04.01 – What key steps is the Michael J. Fox Foundation taking to overcome these hurdles?

06.22 – In the paper, you highlight the importance of collaboration in reaching a precision medicine approach for Parkinson’s – how do you envisage this can be implemented across sectors (for example: academia, industry, pharma and publishing)?

08.02 – One of the key areas of research that you suggest will take us towards this precision approach is biomarker validation: what is the current state of the field of Parkinson’s biomarkers?

11.07 – In your opinion, what is the most exciting research currently going on in the area of Parkinson’s biomarkers, and more broadly in the field of personalized medicine for Parkinson’s?

13.14 – And finally, where do you hope the field of precision medicine for Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases will be in 5–10 years’ time?