Cure SMA

Funds research partnerships and treatment development aimed at improving life and longevity for spinal muscular atrophy patients.

Cure SMA is a US 501(c)(3) patient-advocacy foundation headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1984, it works toward a world without spinal muscular atrophy and has invested more than $82 million in SMA research since inception.

It runs two competitive research routes. The annual Basic Research program is reviewed by a Scientific Advisory Board, supports one- or two-year projects, and can reach $150,000 per award over the life of the project, while the Drug Discovery Initiative is reviewed by a Translational Advisory Council and has historically funded projects around $300,000 each. Cure SMA's own reporting shows more than $15 million across 134 basic research grants and $20 million across 12 drug discovery projects.

The foundation does not typically run clinical trial RFPs. Instead, it uses research funding to generate new biology, tools, and drug candidates that can pull in industry and government support later, with recent work contributing to approved SMA therapies and the current drug discovery program opening only when the advisory council identifies a priority gap. The result is a focused disease foundation with a strong translational path and a clear preference for mechanistic or drug-development work.