Case Study: Prize4Life accelerates ALS biomarker discovery and reduces clinical trial time and cost with Wazoku

Prize4Life - Customer Case Study

Prize4Life, founded by Avi Kremer and classmates to “accelerate the discovery of treatments and a cure for ALS by using powerful incentives to attract new people and drive innovation,” partnered with InnoCentive to offer a million-dollar prize for an ALS biomarker. Posted to InnoCentive’s global solver network, the challenge engaged nearly 3,000 solvers and dozens of submissions to address the critical lack of measurable progression metrics that has stalled ALS drug development.

The $1,000,000 prize went to Dr. Seward Rutkove for demonstrating that electrical impedance myography (EIM) can accurately track muscle degeneration in ALS. EIM shortens and reduces the cost of clinical trials (cutting Phase II costs from roughly $10M to about $5M or less), has been adopted or considered by companies such as Neuralstem, Biogen Idec and Genzyme, and has brought new funding, visibility and hope to ALS research and patients.

Prize4Life

Melanie Leitner

Chief Scientific Officer