Determined to push ahead on two of the toughest CNS targets in drug development, Roche announced this morning that it is teaming up on two preclinical candidates at reMYND, a Belgian biotech that could earn more than $637 million in milestones if the partners can make their way to the marketplace. ReMYND's compounds are disease modifying therapies that inhibit α-synuclein neurotoxicity in Parkinson's disease and tau neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease.
"Our Alzheimer's tau program represents perhaps a greater potential as it addresses one of the most fundamental aspects of the disease," says Koen De Witte, managing director of reMYND. "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 programs." ReMYND gets an undefined set of milestones amounting to more than a half billion euros along with royalties that could reach into the double digits.
"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," says Gerard Griffioen, CSO of reMYND. ReMYND has a total of six programs in various stages of preclinical development for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, with another two devoted to diabetes.
Some of the biggest drug developers in the world have attempted, and failed, at finding a therapy that can modify Alzheimer's, a memory-wasting disease that is growing exponentially as the world's population ages. Eli Lilly was recently forced to shutter its late-stage Alzheimer's program after researchers determined that it could have made conditions worse for the patients taking it.
- here's the reMYND release