The Target ALS Annual Meeting brings talented researchers from our global Innovation Ecosystem together to share scientific breakthroughs and forge collaborations that aim to accelerate ALS drug development. Held from May 7-9 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts, the 2024 meeting drew over 800 participants, both in-person and virtually.

The event showcased significant strides in research and discovery, attracting scientific stakeholders from academia, industry, venture capital firms, and nonprofit organizations. 

Living with the disease since his diagnosis in late 2021, Target ALS Founder Dan Doctoroff shares his inspiring remarks on this year’s gathering:

Letter from the Founder

Everyone Lives. I say this often, but it’s more than words. It’s the vision of Target ALS. 

Everyone Lives serves as our north star, underpinning our mission to break down barriers to accelerate ALS research forward. 

At this year’s Annual Meeting – our 11th – as I looked around the room, observing conversations and collaboration between all those we brought together – academics, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, people living with ALS, nonprofits, venture capital firms, federal funding agencies – I clearly saw a future where everyone with ALS will live. 

When Target ALS was first launched, we believed that collaboration was key to advancing ALS drug discovery. To accomplish this goal, we focused on three areas: 

• Encouraging multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations 
• Lowering the barriers to entry for investigators by providing tools and resources needed to conduct research 
• Engaging and retaining industry in the ALS research space 

Structuring our funding model and approach to achieve these objectives has led to remarkable progress in just 10 years. Today, of the 59 consortia we funded in our first ten years, 60% have led to drug discovery programs, seven clinical trials have been launched and five biotech companies have been formed. Over 1,100 projects have used our tools and resources. And just last month, we launched a first-of-its-kind data portal to provide free, no-strings-attached access to comprehensive datasets and analysis tools to fuel discovery of treatments and biomarkers for ALS. 

In addition to the value of our funding model, we also saw an opportunity to host an Annual Meeting to bring stakeholders together to engage in dialogue, share ideas and challenge one another to advance drug discovery. At our first Annual Meeting in 2013, only eight companies and no venture capital firms were present. This year, I’m proud to share that we had over 132 pharmaceutical and biotech companies, 121 academic institutions, 14 venture capital firms and 37 non-profit organizations join us. 

Over the course of this year’s Annual Meeting, we had consortia from 16 basic biology, 10 therapeutic discovery and 10 biomarkers projects, as well as three clinical trials, present their findings and engage in conversation around their approach, methodology, lessons learned and next steps. The room was filled with excitement and while there was some I didn’t understand as a nonscientist, I could feel the palpable sense of urgency and the hope that we are closer to unraveling the mysteries of ALS. 

When I was diagnosed with ALS in late 2021, I committed to spending the rest of my life focused on ALS. My dad and uncle died of the disease, inspiring me to start Target ALS in 2013, but I naively thought I would never get ALS. Being diagnosed myself made this mission even more deeply personal. The risks to my children, grandchildren, brothers, and cousins were clear, not to mention the one in 400 people who are alive today who will develop ALS in their lifetime. 

I immediately called upon Target ALS CEO Manish Raisinghani, Target ALS Chief Advisor Chris Henderson, and our Board of Directors to take our successful model and scale up for greater impact. We determined that we would need $250 million over nine years to execute on our scaled-up strategy and drive progress. 

When I embarked on this challenge to raise $250 million, I wasn’t sure how I would accomplish such a bold goal, but I knew it was critical that we raise these much-needed funds. Two years later, I’m thrilled to share that we have not only reached the $250 million goal, but we have exceeded it, raising over $259 million. Over the next eight years, we will invest these dollars across our seven pillars focused on expanding the breadth and depth of the Target ALS Innovation Ecosystem, fueling scientific breakthroughs to develop effective biomarkers and treatments for ALS. 

I am proud of this significant achievement made possible by so many but I’m not stopping. As long as I can, I will continue to fight and raise as much as possible so that we can stop ALS once and for all. Thank you for joining me in this fight. Every day, we get closer to a world where everyone lives. Thank you for helping make that world a reality. 

Sincerely,

Dan Doctoroff

Founder, Target ALS