The Power of Collaboration and Commitment within the Parkinson’s Disease Community

At Kyowa Kirin, helping patients is our business. Everything we do is focused on improving the lives of patients and their families. Our drive to make a difference in people’s lives starts from the earliest stages of discovery and extends to everyday interactions in the field and in our communities. We care from the inside out.

As part of our commitment, we work collaboratively with patient advocacy organizations, that are the leading voices in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and are dedicated to advancing research and education efforts. In honor of the start of PD Awareness Month, we are highlighting some of their work to show the power of collaboration and a common mission.

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research shares a focus on research to end PD:?

“An estimated 6 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease and millions more families and loved ones are impacted because of the ripple effects of a diagnosis. At The Michael J. Fox Foundation, our mission is to speed up research to end the disease. This means we need hundreds of thousands — and eventually millions! — of people to get involved in any way that is most meaningful to them.”

Parkinson & Movement Disorder Alliance discusses the importance of education and empowering those impacted by PD:

“For Parkinson’s Awareness Month, we are leaning into our ecosystem model to explain and feature our work with the medical network and the Advanced Therapeutics in Movement & Related Disorders (ATMRD) Congress. We believe empowering people with Parkinson’s means empowering the entire Movement Disorder Care & Support Ecosystem?—the person with PD, their loved ones, support group leaders, advanced practice providers, and physicians.

We’re working to fill educational gaps for medical providers, organizing a first-of-its-kind Advanced Therapeutics in Movement & Related Disorders Congress (ATMRD), which will gather healthcare providers from across the nation in person to spark connections and revitalize their practice with the most innovative clinical science and hands-on treatment techniques. When our medical teams are uplifted, people with PD get the best care and live their fullest lives.”

Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s highlights their inspiring advocates and content for the community:

“We always like to use Parkinson’s Awareness Month as a time to shine a light on our Ambassadors who are community advocates that are helping individuals and families live well with Parkinson’s every day. We’ll also be producing a blog series all about advocacy – from self-advocacy to community organizing and policy – throughout the month as part of our Healthy Parkinson’s Communities? initiative where we’ll share advice and learnings from Ambassadors and other community leaders who are changing how people live with Parkinson’s.”

Parkinson’s Foundation focuses its efforts on the #FutureOfPD to empower people to take action and make a difference:

“This April, the Parkinson’s Foundation marks Parkinson’s Awareness Month with the #FutureOfPD awareness campaign,” said John L. Lehr, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation. “Whether that means learning how to navigate your own future with Parkinson’s, or helping us create a world without Parkinson’s, together we can make a difference.”

To learn more about the #FutureOfPD, visit Parkinson.org/Awareness.

We are proud of our partnerships with these advocacy groups and look forward to future initiatives to support the Parkinson’s Disease community through storytelling, disease education, events and helpful tools/resources to enhance everyday life for those living with PD and their families.