Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, has contributed $132-million to the battle against Parkinsons disease, support work that is encouraging drug companies to accelerate treatment efforts, Bloomberg writes.

Mr. Brin, 38, began donating to Parkinsons research in 2005, three years before he learned that he carries a flawed gene that gives him a 50 percent change of contracting the progressive brain disease, which afflicts his mother.

His giving, most of it to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research, has helped create a database of 7,000 patients DNA and advanced research into the genetic causes of the disease. Pharmaceutical firms Pfizerand GlaxoSmithKline are drawing on that work in pursuing a new class of medicines that could become the first to slow the progress of the disease.

On the basis of their Parkinsons giving, Mr. Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, ranked 25th on The Chronicle of Philanthropys list of 2011 top donors.

See more here:
Google’s Sergey Brin Takes Big Role in Parkinson’s Fight

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