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<a href="https://cytokinetics.com/">Cytokinetics</a> is calling for proposals from patient advocacy organizations focused on <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/what-is-als/">amyotrophic lateral sclerosis</a> (ALS) and cardiovascular conditions for its 6th annual Communications Grant Program.
The <a href="https://cytokinetics.com/responsibility/grants-and-giving/">2024 program</a> will award five grants totaling $20,000 each to groups serving the ALS, heart failure, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy communities. These grants will support the organizations&#8217; efforts to improve communications, expand community engagement, and increase disorder awareness.
A total of four awards will be given to cardiovascular projects and one will go to an ALS organization. The applications deadline is Nov. 1 and grant recipients will be announced in January.
&#8220;We are proud to continue our tradition of supporting patient advocacy organizations in their efforts to prioritize and nurture critical communications and outreach initiatives,&#8221; Mary Pomerantz, Cytokinetics senior director of patient advocacy and engagement, said in a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/09/28/2751094/35409/en/Cytokinetics-Announces-Call-for-Proposals-for-its-Sixth-Annual-Communications-Grant-Program.html">company press release</a>.
&#8220;Over the past five years, our Communications Grant Program has funded creative and urgently needed programs that have helped expand patient reach, connect communities and elevate patient voices,&#8221; Pomerantz said, adding, &#8220;We look forward to receiving new proposals and once again contributing to the goals and objectives of patient advocacy organizations.&#8221;
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<h3>Grant proposals sought for improving communication, increasing awareness</h3>
The grants target new or ongoing communication, marketing, or outreach initiatives that, without the funding, would be challenging to implement or continue. Depending on organizational needs, the grants could help support programming or personnel.
To be eligible, organizations must serve one of the three patient communities and have nonprofit or registered charity status in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom, or in Europe. Proposals must specify activities the funding would support as well as its potential impact. At the end of the funding year, recipients must provide Cytokinetics with an outcomes report.
A committee of Cytokinetics representatives will evaluate submissions based on selection <a href="https://cytokinetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Cytokinetics-Communications-Grant-Selection-Criteria.pdf">criteria</a> regarding reach, awareness, community engagement, and impact. Evaluation criteria is broken down into four categories:
<ul>
<li>For the reach category, efforts must expand the organization&#8217;s outreach to its patient community. Examples include reaching new constituents, fortifying existing relationships or networks, creating new partnerships, and strengthening an existing program to connect with a broader or different population.</li>
<li>In the awareness category, efforts must seek to educate others about the disorder and its symptoms, treatments, and other aspects. The goal is to build awareness. These efforts also may heighten the patient voice with key stakeholders, for example, by amplifying patient and caregiver experiences.</li>
<li>In the community engagement category, efforts must aim to increase involvement with patients and/or caregivers by enabling new ways of linking the organization to the community, or by strengthening existing engagement programs.</li>
<li>For the impact category, organizations are asked to include in their proposal how they plan to feasibly measure the success of their efforts. This can be through key performance indicators or other ways the group develops to measure outcomes. If a grant would likely help the organization attract other project funding, proposals should indicate that as well.</li>
</ul>
Among the grant program <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/cytokinetics-awards-20k-communications-grants-2-als-groups/">recipients last year</a> were the <a href="https://neals.org/">Northeast Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Consortium</a> and the <a href="https://alsphiladelphia.org/">ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter</a>.
For more information about the grant program or on what&#8217;s needed for proposals, send an email to grants@cytokinetics.com.
Cytokinetics had previously been developing <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/ck-2127107/">reldesemtiv</a> to slow muscle function decline in people with ALS. However, <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/courage-als-trial-stopping-reldesemtiv-fails-show-benefits/">the Phase 3 program was discontinued</a> after interim data failed to demonstrate an improvement in clinical outcomes over a placebo. The company now is focusing its efforts on <a href="https://cytokinetics.com/medicines-research/pipeline/">therapies for cardiovascular conditions</a>, with no other treatments for ALS in its pipeline.

Cytokinetics calls for proposals for 6th Communications Grant Program

<a href="https://cytokinetics.com/" rel="nofollow">Cytokinetics</a> has awarded $20,000 grants to five patient advocacy organizations, including two serving the <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/what-is-als/">amyotrophic lateral sclerosis</a> (ALS) community, under its fifth annual Communications Grant Program.
Each grant is intended to support the nonprofit&#8217;s <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/als-patient-groups-others-encouraged-apply-cytokinetics-grants/">outreach, engagement, and awareness efforts</a>, allowing the organizations to broaden their work in underserved and other communities, launch educational programs, and help patients with access to disease conferences.
Grant recipients were the Boston, Massachusetts-based <a href="https://neals.org/">Northeast Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Consortium</a>, or NEALS, and the <a href="https://webpa.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PA_homepage">ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter</a>, and three organizations focused on people living with heart failure and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
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<h3>Groups recognized for &#8216;meaningfully&#8217; addressing patient and caregiver needs</h3>
“We are continuously impressed by the quality of proposals we receive, and this year’s recipients were particularly impactful, reflecting the unique needs of the patient communities they serve,” Mary Pomerantz, Cytokinetics’ senior director of patient advocacy and engagement, said in a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/01/30/2597451/35409/en/Cytokinetics-Announces-Recipients-of-Its-Fifth-Annual-Communications-Grant-Program.html">company press release</a>.
“As more in-person gatherings resume this year, along with digital connections, we are pleased to support these valuable communications initiatives to bring enhanced awareness to and meaningfully address the unmet needs of patients living with heart failure, HCM, and ALS and their caregivers,” she added.
NEALS, an academic research consortium, works to swiftly translate scientific discoveries into clinical testing and, potentially, into new therapies for those with ALS and motor neuron disease.
It will use the funds to develop and put in place a pilot program called the ALS Clinical Research Communication and Outreach Tour, building upon existing education and awareness efforts with in-person visits to underserved ALS communities across the U.S.
The ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter plans to put its award toward more and better educational communications, via new professional videos, targeted mailings, and website upgrades.
The chapter, which serves about 1,200 ALS patients and their families in eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and south and central New Jersey, wants to make patients and caregivers more aware of the family assistance it offers, and of ALS in general to support earlier diagnosis and treatment initiation.
Other grant recipients are the HeartBrothers Foundation, Mended Hearts, and the WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease.
Cytokinetics&#8217; program focuses on advocacy organizations working in ALS, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and heart failure. A call for 2024&#8217;s grant applicants will be announced this fall.
The biopharmaceutical company is developing <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/ck-2127107/">reldesemtiv</a> to slow muscle function decline in people with ALS.
A ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial, <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04944784?term=reldesemtiv&amp;draw=2&amp;rank=1">COURAGE-ALS (NCT04944784)</a>, is evaluating oral <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/analyses-support-design-courage-als-trial-testing-reldesemtiv/">reldesemtiv&#8217;s safety and efficacy</a>, against a placebo, over 24 weeks in up to 555 adults, ages 18 to 80, recently diagnosed with ALS. It is currently <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04944784#contactlocation">recruiting eligible patients</a> at sites in North America, Europe, and Australia, and it is expected to conclude in March 2024.
Those who complete COURAGE will be able to enter its <a href="https://alsnewstoday.com/news/new-als-study-reldesemtiv-investigating-longer-term-safety-efficacy/">open-label extension study</a> called <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05442775">COURAGE OLE (NCT05442775)</a>, where all will be given the experimental therapy for about one year. They also could have the option of enrolling in a compassionate use program, allowing them to continue treatment pending reldesemtiv’s potential regulatory approval.

Tag: Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics calls for proposals for 6th Communications Grant Program

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