The Reeve Foundation is building alliances to bridge the gap between lab discoveries and successful clinical translations.
These groundbreaking partnerships represent the future of spinal cord injury research. Please check back regularly to learn about new partners and initiatives designed to accelerate treatments.
Axonis is a start-up company with a mission to marry basic science into translational medicine and spawn a new generation of therapeutics for individuals with SCI. Research efforts are underway to target a protein called KCC2 to develop a new oral drug for people with SCI that could help restore function while also reducing pain and spasticity – aspects of SCI that have been largely unaddressed by other treatment approaches. The Reeve Foundation’s early investments in Axonis serve as a model for venture philanthropy in SCI. Today, Axonis is among the inaugural group of companies with capital deployed by SCI Ventures – a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy fund co-founded by the Reeve Foundation.
Mass General Brigham is establishing the Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Collaborative Community (iBCI-CC). This is the first Collaborative Community in the clinical neurosciences that has participation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is proud to join this novel Collaborative Community and is represented by Cristin Welle, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado and a member of the Reeve Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and International Spinal Research Trust (“Spinal Research”) are jointly supporting four research studies designed to restore neural/motor function primarily through novel circuit formation in chronic, traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). The grants are the first for the Reeve-ISRT collaborative alliance, established in 2021 to focus on fast-tracking SCI therapies using combinatorial interventions, innovative protocols and broad stakeholder engagement.
The Reeve Foundation and Kessler Foundation are collaborating on a groundbreaking pilot study utilizing Butterfly iQ™ to address one of the most common and challenging medical conditions related to spinal cord injury: bladder health. This pioneering study led by Kessler aims to revolutionize bladder management for individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI). By introducing the Butterfly iQ™, a state-of-the-art, portable ultrasound device, the study enables individuals with SCI to monitor their bladder volume at home. This innovation has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs), often resulting from improper bladder management.
.NeuroRestore is a cutting-edge research, innovation and treatment center that develops and applies bioengineering strategies involving neurosurgical interventions to restore neurological functions. With the support of the Reeve Foundation, .NeuroRestore is investigating epidural stimulation as a potential tool for managing bladder dysfunction, a significant quality-of-life issue for the SCI community. Reeve Foundation support is also helping funding .NeuroRestore’s study of novel brain-spine interface (BSI) technology to reverse upper limb paralysis.
The North American Clinical Trials Network (NACTN) works to bring promising therapies out of the laboratory and into clinical trials, in a manner that provides strong evidence of effectiveness and safety. By uniting experts across the country, NACTN is gathering valid, meaningful data to speed the delivery of new therapies to the community. NACTN supports a network of clinical centers as well as clinical coordinating, data management and pharmacology sites, all dedicated to establishing best practices in the care and treatment of spinal cord injury. In addition to translating discoveries from the lab into clinical studies, NACTN maintains a patient registry of information that is important to the design and testing of possible new treatments for SCI.
ONWARD Medical, a Netherlands-based medical technology company, is already yielding results with the potential to change what is possible for people living with spinal cord injury. Among ONWARD Medical’s breakthrough technologies is the delivery of individualized transcutaneous stimulation to the spinal cord in combination with typical SCI rehabilitation to improve arm and hand recovery. Another exciting program uses targeted, programmed epidural stimulation of the spinal cord to restore movement and other functions. Among its numerous Breakthrough Device Designations by the US FDA is a system using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology in conjunction with its epidural stimulation therapy to restore thought-driven movement after SCI. ONWARD Medical’s technology has the potential to one day enable people with even the most severe forms of spinal cord injury to walk, stand, and more again. The Reeve Foundation’s early investments in Onward Medical serve as a model for venture philanthropy in SCI. Today, Onward is among the inaugural group of companies with capital deployed by SCI Ventures – a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy fund co-founded by the Reeve Foundation.
PsychoGenics, a CNS-focused contract research organization that designs and executes preclinical drug discovery and early development programs, has partnered with the Reeve Foundation on a preclinical grant to develop innovative techniques and technologies to provide standardized lab research resources that do not currently exist. This project will help accelerate therapeutic development by providing a validated tool to the SCI research community.
SCI Ventures is a new venture philanthropy vehicle dedicated to funding and commercializing innovative treatments for spinal cord injury. Its mission is to advance breakthroughs for people living with paralysis by supporting promising cure-oriented therapies and emerging technologies. The fund is led by a team of professionals with expertise in venture capital, technology, and science – with deep personal connections to the cause – and is advised by world-class neuroscientists. The venture philanthropy fund model was pioneered in SCI by the Reeve Foundation, which co-founded the fund and led SCI Ventures’ first investments in the technology company ONWARD® Medical and AXONIS Therapeutics. SCI Ventures is building on this progress and industrializing the model. The fund’s fellow co-founders are Wings for Life, the International Spinal Research Trust (“Spinal Research”), the Promobilia Foundation and Shepherd Center. SCI Ventures marks the first time the leading spinal cord injury foundations around the world have come together in support of a novel investment vehicle. Through our collective funding, networks and knowledge, we will be transformative in the effort to support promising pipeline therapies and emerging technologies.
The Reeve Foundation and the University of Alberta have partnered on a joint three-year initiative, supported by a $250,000 Reeve Foundation grant, to accelerate open data via the Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury (ODC-SCI). The initiative aims to facilitate data standardization, knowledge sharing and scientific replicability and translation to spur more pre-competitive therapeutic research opportunities and reduce fundamental challenges within the research community that slow progress.
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