Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 10 million worldwide, and 1.2 million in the EU. This chronic disabling disease affects the central nervous system with loss of dopamine neurons in the brain causing motor symptoms such as tremor and balance disturbances, as well as non-motor features such as dementia. The current dopamine substitution treatments alleviate some of the symptoms, however, there are no disease-modifying therapies. In EU the annual cost related to PD is 14 B€ currently and it is expected to increase with an ageing population.
Herantis has developed HER-096 for stopping the progression of PD. HER-096 is a peptidomimetic which reduces cellular stress, prevents formation of pathological protein aggregates, and alleviates neuroinflammation thereby modifying disease progression. HER-096 combines this compelling mechanism of action with the ability to penetrate to the brain after patient friendly subcutaneous injection. Thus, HER-096 is on its way to become a first-in-class disease-modifying drug to slow or even stop the progression of PD.
The ReTreatPD project aims to advance the development of HER-096 to achieve clinical proof of concept for HER-096 in PD, which would enable out-licensing HER-096 to a global industry partner for commercialization. The specific aim of the Grant project is to advance HER-096 project towards Phase 2 clinical trials related to biomarker selection, conduct of preclinical safety data, improve the product formulation and advance partnering discussions. If the project is successful, HER-096 can revolutionize the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, thus, alleviating the huge burden it now causes patients, their caregivers and healthcare.
More about Herantis Pharma plc: www.herantis.com
