Foundations and Patient Advocacy Groups working with NDRI provide a unique and powerful opportunity to their patient population, by allowing them to contribute to the science that leads to the discovery of drug therapies and answers questions about human disorders and diseases.
Patients and their family members can contribute to science by providing a “living” donation, (blood sample, urine, explanted tissue, or organ) or through registering to make a post-mortem gift and leave a legacy to help advance scientific discoveries.
Pharmaceutical companies and investigators are increasingly working with Foundations and Patient Advocacy Groups to obtain data sets, registry information, and support for drug development and identifying causes of disease. Using human tissue during drug development can help pharmaceutical companies more rapidly:
- Identify and validate drug targets
- Identify drug mechanisms
- Develop screening tests for biomarkers associated with certain subtypes of disease
- Group patient based on their genetic characteristics and likelihood of positive response for testing of new drugs
- Group patients based on the “biomarkers” of their disease to determine which treatment is appropriate