EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Melior Discovery, Inc., a leader in the area of drug repositioning, announced today that it has completed the formation of its second therapeutic area-focused pharmaceutical company, Melior Pharmaceuticals II, LLC. Melior Discovery has transferred all of its intellectual property related to MLR-1019, a therapeutic candidate for Parkinson’s disease (PD), into the new company. The spinoff of this asset and its associated intellectual property provides several benefits to Melior Discovery and its investors by creating an entity with which new investors and partners can form business relationships related to MLR-1019 that are unencumbered by the other assets and operational activities of Melior Discovery, Inc.
MLR-1019 was previously available in the former Soviet Union for psychiatric indications, but was withdrawn from the market when its manufacturer discontinued operations. As with all of Melior’s pipeline assets, the potential of MLR-1019 for the treatment of levodopa (l-dopa) induced dyskinesia and potentiation of l-dopa’s efficacy was identified using the company’s proprietary multiplexed phenotypic screening platform, theraTRACE®. These new activities are covered by issued patents.
“I am very encouraged by the combination of anti-parkinsonian and anti-dyskinetic effects demonstrated by MLR-1019 in animal models of Parkinson’s disease, and look forward to working with Melior Pharmaceuticals II in the clinical development of this product,” said C. Warren Olanow, a leading Parkinson Disease Research investigator, CEO of Clintrex LLC, and Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Published pre-clinical and clinical information to date indicates that the drug is generally safe and well-tolerated. “We are very enthusiastic about the promise that MLR-1019 holds for benefiting Parkinson’s patients, especially those who have developed l-dopa induced dyskinesias,” said Andrew Reaume, CEO of Melior Discovery. “The formation of Melior Pharmaceuticals II will expedite our activities towards initiating clinical development.”
Melior previously established Melior Pharmaceuticals I, Inc. as an entity dedicated to developing MLR-1023, a first-in-class candidate for type 2 diabetes. MLR-1023 successfully completed a Phase 2a clinical trial in type 2 diabetic patients.
About Melior
Melior Discovery and Melior Pharmaceuticals I and II, its sister companies, are leaders in pharmaceutical drug repositioning using the unique theraTRACE® platform comprised of multiplexed in vivo disease models. Melior is using these capabilities to build an internal pipeline of development candidates while also partnering with pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies to apply the theraTRACE® platform and its in-depth in vivo pharmacology expertise to their development candidates. Melior Discovery and Melior Pharmaceuticals are privately held and located in Exton, PA. For more information, visit www.meliordiscovery.com.
