Israeli Non-Profit Offers Prize for A.L.S Cure.

Illustration: Flickr

When doctors told 29 year old Avichai Kremer there is no known cure for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or A.L.S, Mr. Kremer realized he only has a couple of years left to live. “Instead of sitting at home and feeling sorry for myself I decided that I’m not going to die from this disease and that I will do everything in my power to bring a cure to market.”  Today, five years later Mr. Kremer is head of  Prize4Life a non profit that offers a prize to researchers who can prove advancement in the battle for a cure.

Avichai Kremer

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. As neural signaling grows weaker muscles start to atrophy and shrink causing loss of movement, speech and inevitably death.

Started by Mr. Kremer who at the time was a first year student at Harvard Business School, Prize4 Life tries to emulate a very known business model- incentives:” In the end Doctors and pharmaceutical tell us that it’s all about the money. While drug companies can make a profit on the end drug the companies are reluctant to go into the basic research “, says Guy Yamen, one of Mr. Kremer’s classmates at Harvard who volunteers as chief of strategy at Prize4Life: “By offering substantial rewards, we’re encouraging researchers to race for this cure and bridging the cap that will provide the necessary research for the drug companies to later on produce.”

While today Mr. Kremer has lost his ability to speak, he communicates through a text recognition system that he can operate without the use of his hands. Despite this handicap he still runs the organization emailing people across the world and ensuring that his silent voice is heard.

In order to raise funds and awareness across the world, Prize4Life is organizing an auction of Israeli and American art. The money will benefit the foundations resources which include providing ALS researchers with the tools that they require to race for a cure.

Illustration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorelei-ranveig/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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