A key focus area of The Alzheimer's Project is researching a cure for Alzheimer's disease locally. To spur research innovation and drug discovery, a local drug pipeline, Collaboration4Cure (C4C), was developed to accelerate the process of discovering new drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease. C4C represents a gathering of “the best and brightest” Alzheimer's disease and related dementias researchers, physicians, and biotechnology representatives based within the San Diego County region. The group is charged with establishing and managing a regional fund to harvest promising local research ideas and put them on a path towards identifying effective therapies for the disease.  

The C4C program is unique in that projects selected for funding are awarded in the form of access to facilities at either Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute or Scripps Research Institute. These institutions house the specialized equipment necessary to conduct neuroimaging, robotic drug screening, and other high-level procedures for drug discovery. An annual Call for Proposals is issued each year to identify projects for C4C's pipeline. Since 2015, C4C has selected twelve projects, five of which remain active and are advancing toward National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications. 

C4C is led by Alzheimer’s San Diego, in partnership with the County of San Diego, City of San Diego and five of San Diego’s premier research institutes: The Salk Institute; Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute; Scripps Research Institute; University of California, San Diego; and the J. Craig Venter Institute.

For more information about Collaboration4Cure, please contact Alzheimer's San Diego at c4c@alzsd.org.