Muscular Dystrophy Association - Greater San Francisco & Bay Area

The freedom to walk, to talk, to run and play. To laugh, to hug. To eat. To breathe. Each day across the country, these everyday freedoms are taken away from kids and adults with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases that weaken muscle strength and severely limit mobility.

MDA takes a big-picture perspective across neuromuscular diseases to uncover breakthroughs that will accelerate treatments and cures. The power in this research approach is that knowledge and information from one disease can often yield progress in others to speed urgently needed answers for families.

Here are some of MDA’s current highlights:

* Funding about 150 MDA research projects around the world

* Awarded nearly 70 MDA research grants in 2016 with a total funding commitment of more than $16 million

* Contributed to dozens of clinical trials now underway

* In 2016, the FDA approved the first disease-modifying drugs to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)