SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neuropore Therapies, Inc. announced today that they have successfully achieved a key program milestone in their collaboration with UCB. After successful completion of a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled single ascending dose clinical study and additional non-clinical studies, UCB has awarded NPTTM a progression milestone of $5 million.
"We are very pleased with UCB’s decision to proceed with the development of this novel therapeutic candidate that initially arose from Neuropore’s drug-discovery platform. This is an important milestone for Neuropore and reflects UCB’s continued commitment to a promising therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease,” commented Doug Bonhaus, Ph.D., Neuropore’s COO.
About Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. There are an estimated seven to ten million patients with PD worldwide. Current treatments for PD are effective at managing the early motor symptoms of the disease, mainly through the use of levodopa and dopamine agonists. As the disease progresses and dopaminergic neurons continue to be lost, these drugs eventually become less effective at treating the symptoms. Currently there are no approved disease modifying treatments for PD.
About Neuropore Therapies, Inc. (NPTTM)
Neuropore Therapies is a pharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of disease-modifying treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Our approach is based on the fundamental concept that the pathological accumulation of misfolded and aggregated neurotoxic proteins is the underlying basis of these disorders. Our therapeutic candidates directly target these proteins and restore cellular autophagy mechanisms to degrade and dispose of these neurotoxic proteins.
The NPTTM Discovery and Development Platform utilizes structure-based drug design, dynamic molecular modeling, and proprietary in vitro and in vivo models to discover and develop novel small molecule drug candidates that facilitate the cellular clearance of toxic misfolded proteins and provide therapeutic benefit to patients with neurodegenerative disorders. NPTTM200-11 is the most advanced product arising from this platform.
In 2014 Neuropore Therapies entered into a collaboration and world-wide exclusive license agreement with UCB.
For more information visit www.neuropore.com.
About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With more than 7700 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 3.9 billion in 2015. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news.
Forward looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current information, projections and assumptions of management. Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature are forward-looking statements. By their nature forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Important factors that could result in such differences include the risks and uncertainties inherent in drug discovery, development, approval and commercialization, collaborations with others, and the fact that past results of clinical trials and regulatory decisions may not be indicative of future trial results or regulatory decisions.
