Roche signs Alzheimer’s deal with reMYND
pharmafile | September 7, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Roche, reMYND
Roche has signed a deal with Belgian biotech reMYND to develop new treatments for patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
The collaboration will focus on two of reMYND’s pre-clinical small molecule programmes which block the neurotoxicity caused by α-synuclein in Parkinson’s and tau in Alzheimer’s.
The biotech company could receive over 500 million euros in milestone payments, additional FTE payments and royalties on resulting net sales, potentially reaching a double-digit level.
The early-stage candidates reflect the focus of reMYND’s research, which is on disease-modifying treatments that aim to decelerate – or even stop – cellular degeneration found in protein misfolding disorders, which also includes diabetes and a long list of orphan diseases.
Roche and reMYND will form joint teams to progress the programmes towards clinical studies. Roche will provide input into chemistry, lead-optimisation and pre-clinical development, while reMYND will continue to conduct non-clinical pharmacology studies and further elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.
The company’s pipeline consists primarily of four disease-modifying programmes counteracting Tau-toxicity for Alzheimer’s and two counteracting α-synuclein toxicity for Parkinson’s, with a recent addition of two programmes counteracting IAPP-toxicity for type II diabetes.
Gerard Griffioen, chief scientific officer of reMYND, said: “From our interactions with different foundations, key opinion leaders and pharmaceutical companies, we could sense that each of our pre-clinical lead programmes were among the most promising experimental treatments to slow down disease progression.
”Our most advanced compound in Parkinson’s disease has demonstrated full inhibition of disease progression in pre-clinical models and could be the first treatment in clinical development for Parkinson’s disease targeting α –synuclein-induced toxicity.”
Koen De Witte, managing director of reMYND, added “Our Alzheimer’s tau programme represents perhaps a greater potential as it addresses one of the most fundamental aspects of the disease. We are very excited, both for our company and for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients, to have selected Roche as a partner to advance these programmes.
“We believe there is a strong fit between both companies because we both have a strong biology-driven approach and aim for first-in-class treatments. In addition, Roche’s expertise in diagnostics will be crucial for maximising the chances of success along the long path of clinical development.”
Andrew McConaghie
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